The government is beginning to take a hard look at the Bajrang Dal, not just for its involvement in the anti-Christian violence across Orissa and southern India
NEW DELHI: The government is beginning to take a hard look at the Bajrang Dal, not just for its involvement in the anti-Christian violence across Orissa and southern India, but also for its exhibited capabilities to make bombs.
Sources said intense pressure is being brought on the government by several Congress leaders demanding a ban on Bajrang Dal. And many in the security establishment admit that there is more physical evidence related to bomb making against the Bajrang Dal than against the Safdar Nagori faction of Simi. “Simi remains a key suspect, but Bajrang Dal and some other fringe Hindu groups have exhibited capabilities for making such quality bombs,” says a senior source in the security establishment.
Over the past few years, a pile of evidence has emerged pointing at cadres of Bajrang Dal and some other Hindu fringe groups of making bombs. The latest was in Kanpur, where on August 24, two Bajrang Dal leaders were killed when they were making bombs that were to have been planted in sensitive spots of the city.
“Fundamentalism of all sorts is a threat to the country. We cannot ignore one and keep eyes open to another. The government is very carefully and actively watching activities of Bajrang Dal and we will take appropriate action at appropriate time,” said information and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, after a cabinet meeting in which the matter was discussed in detail.
In the Kanpur case, investigators have found that Rajiv Mishra, one of the two killed, was in touch with Dal leaders and other fanatic Hindu groups in Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
“The Bajrang Dal should be banned,” minister of state for home and Kanpur MP Sriprakash Jaiswal said after the incident. He also demanded a CBI inquiry into the Kanpur blast. “Bajrang Dal is no different from Simi... the two persons killed in the blast were Bajrang Dal activists and the facts now coming to light clearly establish that Bajrang Dal was busy plotting a major attack,” Jaiswal added.
“There are extremist elements in all the community. There is no one single community that can be pointed out behind such extremist acts. It is a fact that Hindus also have carried out bomb explosions in the past,” ATS chief Hemant Karkare told DNA.
(With inputs from Mumbai)
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