Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Aug 11: Deposing before the Justice B K Somashekhara Commission of Inquiry probing church attacks in the state on Tuesday August 10, former state convener of Bajrang Dal, Mahendra Kumar, claimed that Bajrang Dal is not a sister concern of the Sangh Parivar. He said he does not know about the organizations that are working in Karnataka, for protecting Hinduism and the nation.

Replying to questions posed to him by advocate, B N Jagadish, Kumar feigned ignorance about the existence of pro-Hindu organizations in the state like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Hindu Jagaran Vedike, Shiv Sena, Sri Rama Sene etc. “The aim of Bajrang Dal is to work for the formation of a Hindu nation, and implementing the ideals cherished by senior freedom fighters including M S Golwalkar.  Religious conversions have been taking place in the state because of utter poverty, lack of education and superstitions,” he opined.

Answering questions further, he said that Bajrang Dal has not set up Ashrams to obviate poverty or schools to educate the uneducated people. Instead, he said, the Dal has taken steps towards this direction through other means, and awareness camps were set up to ward away superstitions, during the cross examination by the advocate for the Christian witnesses, M P Noronha. “Bajrang Dal is a division of Vishwa Hindu Parishat (VHP). It is wrong to construe that BJP is the political wing of VHP. RSS and ABVP are not wings of VHP. There is no system of issuing identity cards to Bajrang Dal members. The Dal does not have posts like president, vice president, secretary etc. It does not have any draft rules, and there are no records about its membership strength,” he said, answering questions of Norohna.

He said he saw the controversial book, ‘Satyadarshini’, which reportedly incited violence against churches, in 2009. He however, failed to remember where he had seen it. He claimed that he read the book after two months of first seeing it, and that he had requested the state government, through a petition, to ban the book. He confirmed that he had not discussed the issue of the book with the Bishops, and that he had not complained to VHP about it.

“I have visited churches and taken part in prayers there. I used to attend prayers at the Catholic church in Vamanjoor on a daily basis. The prayers were held in Konkani, but I do not know Konkani. During such sessions, I have found shortcomings in the prayers. I have also made efforts to study the Holy Bible,” he added further.

In the meanwhile, the term of the Commission has been extended till August 31, although it had sought two months extension till September 30. Secretary of the Commission, M N Vidyashankar said that more time might be required to complete the report.