RSS-BJP combine is out to 'devastate' Kerala's social, spiritual landscape: Swami Agnivesh
Thiruvananthapuram : The Sangh Parivar is taking advantage of the Sabarimala issue and has posed a frontal challenge to the rule of law and the Constitution, social activist Swami Agnivesh said Friday.
In a release, Agnivesh said the RSS-BJP combine is out to "devastate" Kerala's social and spiritual landscape.
"This is far more sinister. The natural disaster (flood) united and energised Keralites. The present unnatural disaster improvised to boost BJP's electoral fortunes is threatening to pollute the soul and tear apart the social fabric of Kerala," he said.
He urged the Keralites to think "clearly" and refuse to be misled by "deceptive propaganda".
"The BJP and the RSS were clearly in favour of women's entry into the Sabarimala temple. They have taken an opportunistic U-turn, because they have their eyes only on making electoral gains by communally polarising the people. They know no other way to power and profit," Agnivesh said.
The activist, who plans to visit Kerala in the first week of December, said the Sangh Parivar knows that "Kerala is the strongest bastion against communal and caste-driven politics".
"They believe that the only way an inroad into the state can be made is by using religion as a Trojan horse, smuggling their agenda pretending it to be something other than what it really is," he said.
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Ahmedabad plane crash: Six months on, college hostel lies in ruins, sans bustle of students
Ahmedabad (PTI): Six months after the AI-171 plane crash, the B J Medical College hostel complex in Ahmedabad stands as a haunting reminder, with its charred walls and burnt trees replacing the once lively chatter of students with an eerie stillness.
Scattered across the crash site are grim remnants of daily life - burnt cars and motorcycles, twisted beds and furniture, charred books, clothes and personal belongings.
The Atulyam-4 hostel building and the adjoining canteen complex stand abandoned, with entry strictly prohibited.
For residents near the site, memories of the incident still linger, casting a lasting shadow on their lives, with some of them saying they are still afraid to look up at the sky when an aircraft passes overhead.
On June 12, Air India flight AI-171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London, crashed moments after take-off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, killing 260 persons.
The aircraft slammed into the BJ Medical College hostel complex in Meghaninagar, turning a lively student neighbourhood into a landscape of ruin and grief.
"The area now lies very silent, only a few birds chirp here," Sanjaybhai, a security guard deployed at the premises by authorities to prevent trespassing, told PTI.
Mahendrasingh Jadeja, a general store owner whose shop is just 50 metres from the point where the aircraft struck, described it as an unimaginable calamity. "In all my years, I have never seen anything like this."
Pointing to a tree behind his shop, the 60-year-old said the aircraft first struck there before crashing into the hostel building.
"It was a scorching summer afternoon. Not many people were outside. When I heard a loud crashing sound, I ran out of my shop. We were all terrified," he recalled.
"Even today, we instinctively look up whenever a plane passes overhead," he added.
Another local, Manubhai Rajput, who lives barely 200 metres from the site, said he witnessed the horror unfold on June 12.
"The plane was flying unusually low. Before I could understand what was happening, there was thick black smoke and a deafening crash," he said.
For over three decades, Rajput and his neighbours lived close to the airport without giving much thought to the aircraft overhead.
"We never looked up at the sky. But that day is etched in my mind. The plane hit a tree first, and then there was a loud sound," he said.
Rajput recalled how hundreds of locals rushed to the site even before police, fire services or the Army arrived.
Tinaben, another resident of Meghaninagar, said she never imagined something like this could happen in Ahmedabad.
"Despite being close to the airport, this area always felt safe," she said.
As an aircraft roared overhead during the conversation, Tinaben paused, looked up nervously and said, "It's still scary."
A senior official of Civil Hospital Ahmedabad, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the state government has yet to decide what to do with the damaged site.
Currently, investigations are going on and the site is strictly prohibited for people, he added.
