Vigil up in Kovai for Valentine’s Day, blast anniversary

Eight Hindu outfits have sought permission to organise peace rallies to pay respects to the 58 victims who were killed in the blasts in 1998. Police said “We have denied permission. However, if they go ahead in spite of it, they will be arrested.” 

As a preventive measure, hundreds of police personnel were posted at sensitive pockets to avoid clash or untoward incidents. The policemen would also have an eye on mischief mongers attached to a few outfits who could indulge in moral policing on the occasion of Valentine’s Day. 

On Monday, in an attempt to register their protest to the Valentine Day celebration, a group of Hindu Munnani (HM) cadre burnt greetings made for the occasion near Senthil Kumaran Theatre at Ram Nagar in Coimbatore. Terming it a day of cultural decadence the cadre burnt a few cards. Around 30 of them were held by the city police.

HM district general secretary S Sathish, who led the protest, made it clear that the outfit was as such not against love, but against the western influence on Indian cultural practices here. “Even sculptures in temples stand testimony to the fact that the Indian society is not against love,” he said. 

He observed that V-Day is highly commercialised and the festive spirit is aimed at propelling sale of rose among other flowers at a price manifold more than its usual market price. “Parents are afraid to send their daughters out on that day as the artificial celebration mood could corrupt their young minds,” adds HM’s district media relation coordinator P Dhanapal. The Hindu outfit is organising the anti-Valentine’s Day protest for the 16th year in a row.