Sunday, February 10, 2008

Terrorists Kill Politician

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-India-Politician-Killed.html?scp=4&sq=india&st=nyt

Imagine if this mob was Muslim, the title would have been;
"Muslim Terrorist kills politician in Western India"

It is dumb and stupid to blame the religion for the acts of individuals, the title below does not mention the religion of the mob, and that is the right thing to do.

February 9, 2008
Mob Kills Politician in Western India
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 12:03 p.m. ET

NAGPUR, India (AP) -- A local politician was stripped, stoned and beaten to death by a mob during a rally of nearly 500 people in western India, police and party workers said Saturday.

Dynaneshwar Sathawane, a local leader of the ruling Congress party, was campaigning for council elections in Maharashtra state Thursday when a mob of about 150 people attacked him, said local police official Y. Yadav.

While one of his allies addressed the crowd, a mob throwing stones stormed the stage to attack Sathawane, Yadav said.

Other officials on stage escaped, but the crowd pounced on Sathawane and beat him to death with batons and metal rods, Yadav said.

Police have arrested 19 supporters of Shiv Sena, a powerful hardline Hindu party, over the attack. They have not been charged with murder, said state police official P.S. Pasricha. Investigations were continuing.

The Shiv Sena, or Shiva's Army, has been blamed for instigating Hindu-Muslim clashes and for violent attacks that have set off countrywide riots. They are political rivals of the Congress party.

Sathawane's supporters said Shiv Sena workers killed him in revenge for the slaying of a Shiv Sena official last August, said Sunil Kedar, an independent state legislator and an ally of Sathawane.

''Shiv Sena was behind this,'' Kedar said.

Police had not linked Sathawane to the Shiv Sena official's death, but several Congress party supporters were arrested over it, Yadav said.

Neelam Gorhe, a Shiv Sena spokeswoman, denied her party was involved in Sathawane's death.

''We have nothing to do with this,'' Gorhe said.