Around 1,200 RSS volunteers were arrested on Monday as they took out a Path Sanchalan in Badnawar town of Dhar district, violating prohibitory orders imposed in the wake of communal clashes.On Saturday, communal clashes erupted as the RSS took out an “awareness rally” coinciding with Muharram procession. While RSS leader Ashish Basu claims a few volunteers were attacked by a mob after they lost their way and strayed into a Muslim locality, a local Congress MLA tells a different story. “RSS activists attacked a Muslim family in the Malipura Mohalla, a Hindu-dominated area, killing 60-year-old Abbas Ramzan. They didn’t spare anyone and chopped off the fingers of a pregnant woman in the family,” local Congress MLA Rajvardhan Singh told The Indian Express on Monday. “They didn’t have the permission to take out a rally and despite that they went ahead. Even the police couldn’t stop them. Although authorities had imposed prohibitory orders, they did not announce a curfew. Despite the obvious violation of the prohibitory orders, the police did not arrest them.” Defending his activists, Basu said the event was planned a month in advance and was impossible to cancel.Last month, RSS planned a similar Path Sanchalan in Dewas district which led to communal violence, following the murder of former pracharak Sunil Joshi. Joshi, an accused in a double murder, was gunned down in Dewas town.
