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Cong-Bajrang Dal on a collision course in MP

Rahul Singh in Bhopal

The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh is heading for a confrontation with the state's Hindutva forces. The showdown looks inevitable with the Bajrang Dal all set to defy the government's ban on its three-day convention scheduled to start at Bhopal on February 18.

Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has refused to allow the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, to hold its programme saying that it would ''vitiate communal harmony.''

''I am convinced that the Bajrang Dal is an organisation of lumpen elements who have nothing else to do but rabble-rouse,'' the chief minister was quoted as saying recently. Bhopal, he said, was a sensitive place and added that the government was in possession of reports of ISI activities here. ''In such an atmosphere it just needs a spark, which the Bajrang Dal's communal elements are very capable of providing.''

The Bajrang Dal, adopting an equally tough stance, has said it would go ahead with the convention, come what may.

A delegation of the Bajrang Dal, along with other members of the Sangh Parivar - the VHP and the Bharatiya Janata Party - met the chief minister on Tuesday but failed to convince him to allow the convention.

Extending full support to the convention, the state unit of the BJP has described the ban as "undemocratic." The VHP, going a step ahead, has decided to hold protest demonstrations at all public programmes attended by Digvijay Singh.

The chief minister has said that he would consider banning the Bajrang Dal, if required, to stop the conference. ''I shudder at the thought of 15,000 lumpen elements of Bajrang Dal gathering in this city. Anything can happen.''

Political observers, however, see Singh's rigid stance as a part of his gameplan to outshine his counterparts in the Congress ruled states of Maharashtra and Rajasthan. He had earlier too raked up a similar controversy when he stopped a VHP rally against the Pope's visit from entering the state a few months back.

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