Shiv Sainiks switch to 'Gandhigiri' against cops

Varanasi, Sep 29 (UNI) A day after mafia don Babloo Srivastava presented roses to cops outside the special CBI court in Lucknow, the 'Gandhigiri' fever today caught up with young Shiv Sainiks protesting alleged high-handedness of cops in this religious city.

A group of Sainiks led by Gulshan Kapoor and Shiv Seth gathered at the district headquarters here this afternoon.

Holding red roses, the saffron activists staged a peaceful protest against high-handedness of the cops, reflected with slogans hailing the deeds of the police personnel.

The familiar slogan of ''Police prashashan hai hai'' gave way to ''Begunahon ke hatyaron zindabad.'' ''We want to check the high-handedness of cops accentuated through fake encounters and harrassment of innocent people in the name of maintainance of law and order. But instead of taking the violent route to protest, we want to adopt the 'Gandhigiri' style shown by Sanjay Dutt in Lage Raho Munnabhai,'' Mr Kapoor said.

''The red rose symbolises that if the Shiv Sena, which does not hesitate resorting to violence to fight for public cause, can present roses of protest to irresponsible police, then the police shall also leave their high-handed style of functioning,'' Mr Kapoor maintained.

A small group went to present roses to SSP Ashutosh Pandey. ''As he was not in office, we presented the roses of symbolic protest to the Police Superintendent (Rural) L K Singh, alongwith an urge that the cops shelve high-handedness,'' Mr Kapoor added.

The Gandhigiri of Shiv Sainiks, found immediate appreciation from Mr Singh, who lauded this novel way of protest by Shiv Sena, which was normally associated with violent protests.

''Such protests are much more strong than the demonstration which harm public peace and activity,'' Mr Singh maintained.

The saffron brigade's response to Mr Singh's statement was, however, far from encouraging. ''We cannot stick on to Gandhigiri, if the police does not believe in leaving its cruel behaviour with innocent people,'' Mr Kapoor added.

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