The Hindu
Bangalore, Sep 22: Seven days after the attacks on prayer halls and churches started in the State, the Sangh Parivar on Sunday denied its role in the incidents.
The denial has come at a time when the pressure on the Centre for banning the Bajrang Dal is mounting.
Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, Vishwa Hindu Parishad regional secretary (Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh) B. N. Murthy said: “the opponents of Sangh Parivar have a prominent role in these attacks.”
He suspected the role of the Congress, Janata Dal (Secular) and communists in the attacks.
When he was reminded that Bajrang Dal convener Mahendra Kumar himself had owned up responsibility for attacks while speaking to TV channels, Mr. Murthy maintained that “such a statement was just an emotional response to the conversions and that he had withdrawn the statement later.”
Claiming that the BJP Government in the State had initiated steps to put an end to violence, Mr. Murthy took exception to the alleged efforts by the Centre and the Opposition in the State to pull down the Government.
At the same time, Mr. Murthy termed the ongoing attacks as the “sharp response to conversions.” The Sangh Parivar was opposed to the “forced and induced conversions”. But it would not resort to violent ways of protest. “We do not support the ongoing violence and we want this to end,” he said.
He alleged that most of the conversions were based on inducement and demanded that the flow of foreign funds for such conversions should be stopped.
He maintained that the conversions were leading to cultural conflicts within the converted families.
Heads of Catholic and Protestant religious organisations should publicly criticise the conversions and also disassociate themselves with those outfits which were into conversions, he demanded.