NEW DELHI, FEB 11: Rattled by what it claims is ``a disinformation campaign'' initiated against it, the Bajrang Dal today announced that it will launch an agitation to expose the nefarious activities of the Christian missionaries and their sympathisers within the country.``We'll launch a `pole-kholo' (expose) campaign to highlight their misdeeds,'' Bajrang Dal national convenor Surendra Kumar Jain said today, ``We'll distribute over 50 lakh handbills throughout the country to expose the anti-social and anti-national activities of the Christian missionaries.''
He also announced that the Bajrang Dal would take recourse to agitational and legal measures to stop the ``faith-healing camps'' organised by these missionaries, ``through which they fraudulently convert people to their faith.''
The provocation for these steps, Jain claimed, was the vicious propaganda launched by the Christian missionaries against the VHP-Bajrang Dal. He referred to the incidents of alleged rape of nuns at Baripada and Jhabua tobuttress his argument.
``Medical reports in both cases is a slap on the faces of the Christian missionaries and their sympathisers, who went to town blaming the VHP-Bajrang Dal for them,'' he claimed.
He also lashed out at ``the self-proclaimed champions of secularism'' for opposition the BJP-led Government's decision to grant visa to Salman Rushdie. ``By opposing the move, they have only exposed their double-standards,'' Jain asserted.
``When M F Hussain paints nude portraits of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, it is termed as freedom of expression, but Rushdie's works are criticised for hurting the sensitivities of a particular community,'' he said, ``Such doublespeak will not be allowed to continue.''
He also said that the Bajrang Dal will give a befitting reply to the Youth Congress for threatening ``the Hindu organisations. Referring to Youth Congress chief Manish Tiwari's statement in which he is reported to have threatened the Bajrang Dal, Jain said: ``We know how to give reply to them. We are talkingtheir threat very seriously. We don't believe in violence, but we'll not be cowed down by such threats.''
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.