BENGALURU: After the Mangaluru police issued showcause notices for externment to three Bajrang Dal activisits, Hindu groups have criticised the action and are venting their ire over the Congress government.
The new government had promised action against moral policing and elements who disturb peace in society and the showcause notice by the Mangaluru police is being seen as the first step towards such crackdown. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Suresh had even spoken about it in the Assembly earlier.
On Friday, the Mangaluru police had summoned Ganesh and Balachandra of Attavar and Jayaprashant of Shakti Nagar to record their statement on why they should not be externed from the district. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (law and order) had earlier issued showcause notices to them. The police are now preparing to extern the three activists for a period of one year.
On December 6, 2022, the activists had barged into Sultan Jewellery in Kankanady, Mangaluru, and allegedly beat up some youths on the charges of sexually harassing Hindu female employees. On March 26 this year, Bajrang Dal activists had barged into ‘Rang De Basanti’ Holi celebration at Maroli Maidan and allegedly assaulted the organisers on the ground that Hindu girls were behaving vulgarly with Muslim youths and stopped the event.
Bajrang Dal south zone convener Sunil K R demanded that the externment notices should be withdrawn. “Nationalistic and pro-Hindu Bajrang Dal activists are being targeted. They are not indulging in any illegal activities but only working for the cause of the nation and culture. By booking Hindu activists, the government is siding with anti-national and anti-Hindu elements. The government should desist from taking action against the Bajrang Dal activists. Terror suspects, who were planning blasts in Bengaluru, were arrested and arms and explosives were recovered from them, but the government is not speaking about it”.
“The anti-Hindu attitude of the Congress is increasing. Only recently, a Jain monk and Yuva Brigade activist Venugopal Nayak were murdered and there have been other instances after the Congress came to power. Have the Bajrang Dal activists committed murders or rapes, were they preparing bombs? They are only against religious conversion, cow slaughter and are protecting our culture. Since the police are not acting against forced conversion, or cows being taken for slaughter, it is our responsibility to protect Hindu women. If the police do not withdraw their notices, we will launch a statewide agitation”, said Sri Rama Sene founder Pramod Mutalik.
Hindu Janajagruti Samiti leader Mohan Gowda, while criticising the police action, said, “Ever since the Congress came to power, attacks on Hindus have increased. Hindu activists had prevented illegal slaughter of cows during Bakrid and prevented Hindu girls from becoming victims of love jihad after informing the police. When the police did not act, the activists, prevented the illegal cow slaughter themselves. To extern them for it is condemnable”.
“The Congress, when it was in power earlier, had withdrawn cases against PFI activists. Today, the PFI goondas are attacking Hindu activists across the state and are also involved in murders. How many of them have been arrested and punished? How many of them have been externed? Hindu activists are deliberately being targeted and false FIRs being filed against them, notices being issued for organising pujas”, he added.