BJP Govt soft on Bajrang Dal, probes church funding

Following the communal flare-up, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has sent mixed signals on bringing to justice those involved in the September 14...

Following the communal flare-up, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has sent mixed signals on bringing to justice those involved in the September 14 church attacks and subsequent protests by Christians in Mangalore.

On one hand, Yeddyurappa has promised stern action against the attackers and on the other, has almost justified the attacks by the Bajrang Dal by saying that they occurred in a region where large-scale conversions had taken place.

Though the Bajrang Dal has openly claimed responsibility for the attacks, the BJP Government’s directions to the state police have been to track down the source of funds and operations of the Pentecostal New Life church.

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No office-bearers of the Bajrang Dal figure among the 123 persons against whom cases have been filed for the incidents beginning on Sunday. The most prominent Right-wing leader arrested for the attacks has been Pramod Atavar of the Sri Rama Sena.

“Most Bajrang Dal leaders are absconding. We have specific instructions to only look at the activities of the New Life church,” senior police officials said in Bangalore.

The BJP’s Mangalore district in-charge minister Krishna Palemar also said at a press conference on Tuesday that the police had been asked to look into the antecedents of the New Life church and its role in the conversion. He claimed to have no knowledge of the role of the Bajrang Dal in the church attacks.

In the brief period that the BJP has been in power in Karnataka — first as a partner of the JD(S) and on its own since June this year — the administration has faced difficulty in tackling incidents involving Sangh Parivar groups.

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On July 18 this year, a spell of rioting broke out in parts of Bangalore after pig meat was found strewn in a couple of mosques around prayer time on a Friday. Following a fortnight’s investigation, the J C Nagar police using cellphone tower location details named and arrested five persons belonging to the Sri Rama Sena, an outfit linked to the Sangh Parivar, as the perpetrators of the act of desecration.

The BJP Government applauded the arrests, but soon transferred the main investigating officer in the case, an assistant commissioner of police, out of the case jurisdiction.

Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy has accused the BJP Government of harassing ACP Hadimani “for arresting culprits who tried to create communal problems”. The arrested were freed on orders of Home Minister V S Acharya, he alleged.