On Saturday, the Bajrang Dal outfit of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) burnt an illustrated book outside a bookstore in Ahmedabad because it depicted Lord Krishna in an objectionable manner, the group said.

A dozen Bajrang Dal workers entered the Latitude gift and book chain retail store located near Rajpath Club adjacent to the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway in Ahmedabad Saturday night and picked up copies of the book, The Kamasutra, before burning them outside the shop.

Jwalit Mehta, President, North Gujarat Bajrang Dal, said, “We received a complaint that a certain book depicting Hindu god Bhagwan Krishna in an objectionable manner is being sold at a bookstore. We went to the shop and found that many objectionable pictures and comments depicting Bhagwan Krishna and Radha were published in the book with illustrations by Utsav Bhattacharya.”

“As a mark of protest, we burnt the book outside the store. This is also a warning to bookstore owners in Ahmedabad that if they keep objectionable material that hurt Hindu sentiments, next time we will set fire to their shops,” he added. They chanted "Jai Shri Ram" and "Har Har Mahadev" while burning the book.

In this case, neither the Bajrang Dal workers nor the staff of the bookshop have approached police.

A representative of the Latitude stores chain said, “We are aware of the protests that took place outside one of our retail stores in Ahmedabad. We have not lodged any complaint with the police. There are no more copies of the said book in our store now.”

Image source: The Quint