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Bajrang Dal warns Centre

New Delhi: The Bajrang Dal, which has been accused of masterminding anti-Christian violence in several States, has challenged the government to ban it, warning that authorities will face the “consequences” if it is outlawed. “We will fight the ban and we will go to the people to explain the injustice done to us. The elections are coming up soon and it [a ban] will prove costly for the government,” Prakash Sharma, national convener of the Bajrang Dal, told IANS in an interview.

Mr. Sharma denied that Bajrang Dal members had anything to do with the violence in Orissa, where 35 Christians, mostly poor villagers, were killed in incidents following the gunning down of a VHP leader. He accused the media of portraying the Bajrang Dal negatively.

The group has been linked to a bomb blast in August 2006 at Nanded in Maharashtra, where two people were killed. Apparently, its members were making bombs when one or more exploded. A similar incident occurred in August this year in Kanpur and it is also suspected by many to be behind terror attacks in Muslim areas in Delhi or Gujarat. Mr. Sharma denied such linkages.

“The person involved in the Kanpur incident used to be with the Bajrang Dal 10 years ago. By that analogy, the Congress should also be banned. Their Minister ... was caught for the 1993 serial blasts in Surat and now he has been jailed for 20 years,” he said.

Mr. Sharma is unapologetic about the Bajrang Dal’s role in “reconversions” in Orissa.

“What is reconversion? We are making them return to where they were before. This is ghar wapasi [coming back home], and we are doing it. And it is legal,” argued Mr. Sharma.