Bajrang Dal activists attack readers in Ahmedabad over Malala, Anne Frank books

Ahmedabad: A group of Bajrang Dal activists on Thursday evening allegedly beat up members of a book readers’ collective for reading books by Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and Anne Frank at a public garden in Ahmedabad. The saffron organisation, part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), claimed that Malala’s books, in particular, contain “anti-India views”.

Hours after the violent incident, the Vastrapur police registered an FIR early Friday morning based on a complaint filed by Jay Thakkar, a businessman who was leading the collective. The FIR does not name the organisation, but identifies two persons, Hiren Rabari and Jimit Rabari, along with 18 unidentified others. They all were wearing saffron scarves, the complainant has said in the FIR.

Thakkar said several people had gathered at an AUDA (Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority) park in Vastrapur to read books. The reading event had been organised through social media by students and youth collective.

Around 6 pm, as they were preparing for the session, a mob wearing saffron scarves arrived wielding wooden sticks. The mob started asking them why were they reading Malala's book. "They started beating me, Sneh Bhavsar and Savan Jalaria. They pulled the hair of Swati Goswami and roughed up Maitreyee Chhaya. The mob threatened them of consequences for reading the books.

Meanwhile, someone informed the police, following which personnel arrived at the scene and took the injured, including the complainant, to Sola civil hospital.

Jwalit Mehta of Bajrang Dal, in a video statement, said the members of his outfit are against reading of Malala's book since she has "anti-India" views specially on Kashmir.

The incident comes days after saffron organisation and many parents objected to presence of books at a private school Anand Niketan.

They objected to the presence of I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban , authored by Malala.

They also objected to The Diary of a Young Girl , written by Anne Frank who documented her family’s life in hiding from Nazi persecution during the Holocaust.