My Crime. Your Crime.

This must be the only sane thing that the state convenor of Karnataka Bajrang Dal, Mahendra Kumar must have done in his entire life. He had held a press conference and claimed that his gang (Bajrang Dal) was responsible for responsible for attacks on churches in several districts of Karnataka.

This confession and his subsequent arrest put an end to all those speculations and conspiracy theories which claimed that center was trying to falsely implicate this Hindu extremist group in order to strike a balance between its tough stance against the Muslim extremists SIMI. Raghav actually asked a vaild question, why is Bajrang Dal always suspected whenever there is an attack on churches. Well now we have the answer! Not only these thugs do attack the churches but also have the guts to boast about that.

But now a bigger debate is brewing up. Should Bajrang Dal be banned?

Why not? After all Bajrang Dal is involved in communal violence and they have a history of attacks on churches in Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand and Karnataka. This is apart from their outings on Valentine's Day when they go out ransacking gift shops and restaurants claiming to be saviours of Indian culture. And ofcourse attacks on cinema halls when they feel Indian culture is at stake.

But what complicates the matter is the issue of Minority Appeasement. Is this just a balancing act to protect muslim vote bank? A sinister move to neutralize the ban on SIMI and excesses against Muslims by banning a powerful Hindu organization? This may sound a conspiracy theory but has its roots in the statements made by senior leaders like Laloo Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav when they had first raised the demand of ban on Bajrang Dal during court case for continuation of ban on SIMI. It was a shameful display of vote bank politics that was enough to tarnish entire Government.

So should the Bajrang Dal be banned? I would say yes and here's why.

I don't think any self respecting Hindu will try to justify their acts. They may be protesting against conversions of tribal hindus by christians but attacking churches and killing people is not the way to protest. Moreover who says that they can't go ahead and try to convert christians to hindus if they want to! I think the best way to stop conversions is to eradicate the reasons (like poverty, untouchability and other social ills) due to which tribals are lured by the missionaries to cross over to Christianity. With the kind of resources available to them Bajrang Dal could have done this.

I don't want them to be made the martyrs but a stern action against them would give clear message to all these politically aligned outfits who tend to consider themselves above law just because their political masters may be in power. (I remember a few years ago some members of Samajwadi Party had stoned a tourist bus in Agra. I don't know if any action was taken against them.) Bajrang Dal have a history of crime and they must pay for it.

A stern message must go out to everyone that India is a secular country and neither would minorities be pampered nor would majority Hindus be treated above law. Whoever messes with law must be dealt with severely irrespective of what flag he carries: green or saffron.