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Advani absolves Bajrang Dal, VHP of anti-Christian violence

George Iype in New Delhi

Demand from the Opposition parties, members of the ruling coalition and Christian groups to ban Sangh Parivar organisations like the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad is unlikely to succeed as the Union home ministry headed by Lal Kishinchand Advani has virtually absolved these organisations of anti-Christian violence.

Intelligence and investigative reports at the home ministry in the past six months do not indicate the involvement of any Bajrang Dal or VHP leaders/workers in attacks on Christian missionaries and church-run institutions in states like Gujarat, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Ministry sources said there is nothing on record to prove that groups like the Bajrang Dal and VHP have attacked Christians after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government came to power in March 1998.

"We have received numerous requests demanding an immediate ban on the VHP and Bajrang Dal. But the ministry does not have any specific data pointing out the involvement of these groups in anti-Christian violence," an official told Rediff On The NeT.

However, he clarified that the ministry is "aware" that extremist elements in the Sangh Parivar are instigating attacks in various parts of the country against the minorities. Since data collection and law and order assessments are done in collaboration with the concerned state governments, the home ministry has not been furnished with all the details. Nor has Advani evinced keen interest in it.

For instance, a home ministry team that investigated violence against Christians in the Dangs district of Gujarat reported to Advani that the Hindu Jagran Manch was instigating violence against tribal Christians. However, the home minister accepted the report from the state's Bharatiya Janata Party government headed by Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel.

Patel claimed that forced conversions by Christian priests provoked violence in the Dangs.

After Australian missionary Graham Stewart Steins and his two sons were torched to death in Orissa, the state government told the home ministry that Bajrang Dal activists had committed the barbaric act.

Again, Advani refused to buy the Orissa government's version and gave a clean chit to the pro-Hindutva organisations. Asked whether organisations like the Bajrang Dal and VHP should be investigated for the attacks against minorities, Advani told reporters: "I don't think so. I have known these organisations. They have no criminal records.''

Home ministry officials said they will soon prepare a draft statement on the law and order situation in the country which Advani is expected to present in Parliament next month.

The statement will largely accuse criminal elements in the Opposition parties and foreign agencies of employing anti-social elements and masterminding attacks in rural areas.

Advani has often suggested "a foreign conspiracy" behind the current attacks against Christians. The minister revealed last week that Christian missionaries received nearly 70 per cent of foreign funds coming into the country.

Some ministry officials blame Advani's failure to rein in the Sangh Parivar outfits for the attacks against missionaries and church institutions. On Tuesday, there were reports of attacks against Christian missionaries in Allahabad in UP, Faridabad in Haryana and Kozhikode in Kerala.

"The VHP and the Bajrang Dal are acting with impunity because they know the Vajpayee government will not dare touch them," an official pointed out.

Prime Minister Vajpayee's decision to depute Defence Minister George Fernandes, Human Resources Development Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Steel Minister Naveen Patnaik to Orissa to investigate the Australian missionary's murder is unlikely to ease tensions crisis within the ruling coalition on the issue.

Fernandes, known for his anti-Congress utterances, will in all likelihood blame the Congress government in Orissa. Naveen Patnaik, whose Biju Janata Dal is fighting for survival in the state, may also follow suit. And Dr Joshi, a hardcore Hindutva campaigner, is unlikely to accuse the Bajrang Dal of killing the Christian missionary and his two young sons in cold blood.

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