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Hindu Nationalist Wounded in Attack by Gunmen in India
A Hindu nationalist leader accused of spurring anti-Muslim rioting early this year was wounded by gunfire in an assassination attempt today, a little more than a week before elections in the state of Gujarat.Only wounded? Dammit! The official, Dr. Jaideep Patel, the Gujarat joint secretary general of the World Hindu Congress, was shot twice by two men on a motorcycle as he left home, said Kaushik Mehta, a World Hindu Congress spokesman. Although one bullet hit Mr. Patel in the neck, Mr. Mehta said his life was not in danger. There were no suspects. The shooting threatened to further polarize a tense political campaign. Gujarat was the site of largely unchecked communal rioting in February and March after 59 Hindus were burned to death in a train coach in the city of Godhra. In response, thousands of Hindus throughout the state rioted, killing at least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, and destroying Muslim homes, mosques and businesses. Normally, I disapprove of this kind of senseless violence, but here I'd make an exception, since it's not senseless. I suppose the ineptitude of the beturbanned gunnies does tend to keep the overall corpse counts lower than they could be, but if they're going to snuff a real bad guy, they should at least do it right. But I realize they don't have much practice at icing real bad guys — pilgrims and housewives are usually sufficient for them. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2002-12-05 |
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