Date:19/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/19/stories/2008091958660100.htm

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BJP faces Opposition ire over attacks on churches

Bangalore Bureau

Sangh Parivar has let loose reign of terror in State: JD(S)

Bajrang Dal acting as parallel police force: JD(S)
The Government should own up responsibility
for the attacks: Bangarappa

Bangalore: Opposition political parties in the State have turned the heat on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government following the attacks on Christian institutions and churches in the State, for which Sangh Parivar organisations have claimed responsibility.

Accusing the Sangh Parivar of “letting loose a reign of terror in Karnataka,” the Janata Dal (Secular) has called upon President Pratibha Patil to initiate appropriate action to stem the rot. Meanwhile, a church in Kudremukh of Chikmagalur district was attacked on Thursday.

The Janata Dal (Secular) expressed its anger over the functioning of the B.S. Yeddyurappa government at a public rally held at the party headquarters here on Thursday.

It was followed by a meeting of the party’s senior leaders with Governor Rameshwar Thakur. In a memorandum, the Janata Dal (S) called upon the President to invoke the provisions of the Constitution and take steps to put an end to the attacks on Christians. In the memorandum, the party president H.D. Deve Gowda; former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy; Janata Dal (S) State unit president N. Merajuddin Patel, and former Ministers M.C. Nanaiah, N. Cheluvarayaswamy and Basavaraj Horatti said that the BJP government had lost its moral and legal right to continue in office. “What is being witnessed in various districts of the State — attacks on churches and desecration of idols — is a clear case of State-sponsored terrorism”, they said. The Bajrang Dal was functioning like a parallel force, and State police personnel had been reduced to mere dummies and spectators, they said. “The Government has said that nearly 170 people have been arrested in connection with the violence in Dakshin Kannada and Udupi districts. Let them reveal the identity of those who have been arrested. If the Bajrang Dal activists and sympathisers have been arrested, violence would have ended. It is quite evident that most of those arrested are those the minorities”, they said.

Plea for CBI probe

At a press conference on Thursday, former Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party State president S. Bangarappa demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the attacks, and a ban on the Bajrang Dal.

“The Chief Minister and the BJP government should own up responsibility for the attacks,” he said.