'Bajrang Dal convention a success'

BHOPAL, FEB. 19. The VHP leader, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, today claimed that the Bajrang Dal had succeeded in holding its convention in Bhopal yesterday despite the State Government's efforts to prevent them from doing so.

Mr. Kishore reiterated that the Bajrang Dal activists would oppose all programmes of the Chief Minister, Mr. Digvijay Singh.

Bajrang Dal activists had on Friday defied the ban imposed by the district administration, entered the Chola Dussehra maidan here and hoisted a saffron flag. The police had resorted to a lathicharge to discharge the crowd. Nearly 1,000 Bajrang Dal activists, including some senior BJP and VHP leaders, were arrested.

At a press conference here today, Mr. Kishore said the aim of the convention was to take up the issue of national security and address the problem of terrorism but by denying permission, the Chief Minister, Mr. Digvijay Singh, had only served the cause of terrorism. It appeared as if the Chief Minister was ``more afraid'' of the Bajrang Dal and the RSS than the ISI.

He stressed the need for such a convention saying that the Governments _ both at the Centre and in the State _ were incapable of tackling terrorism and taking care of national security without active support of the people.

The national convener of Bajrang Dal, Mr. Surendra Jain, complimented the people, saying, ``It goes to their credit that they were not misled by the propaganda that the Bajrang Dal was out to disrupt communal amity.'' It was unfortunate that attempts were made at the highest level in the State to project the convention as an attempt to drive a wedge between Hindus and Muslims, he said, adding that terrorism could not be fought by any single community.

``Why is it that concrete steps have not been taken by the authorities here to check circulation of the audio cassettes of Masood Azhar or the activities of those linked with ISI,'' he wanted to know.

- UNI

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