With some ministers in the UPA Government clamouring for a ban on the Bajrang Dal, the National Commission for Minorities, too, has sought such an action against the saffron outfit. Commission chairperson Mohamed Shafi Qureshi told The Indian Express on Monday that the commission has recommended that the Bajrang Dal should be banned.“Outfits like the Bajrang Dal are out to destroy communal harmony and the very basis of our Constitution. It is the duty of the Government to see that such outfits do not grow. The commission strongly feels that the Bajrang Dal should be banned. Further, it also wants the Centre to take drastic measures in Orissa as the state has completely failed on this count,” Qureshi said. The commission recently submitted two separate reports to the Prime Minister on the anti-Christian violence in Orissa and Karnataka, and pushed for a ban on the Bajrang Dal in the latter report. “The state must keep a close watch on the activities of all organisations that have contributed to the breakdown of communal harmony in the state. Remedial action, including a ban and prosecution, should be initiated,” states the report prepared by the team led by Qureshi. Union Ministers like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan have already called for a ban on the Bajrang Dal and putting its cadres behind bars. Paswan has, in fact, gone a step ahead and demanded imposition of President’s rule in Orissa in view of the anti-Christian violence there. “The time for Article 355 is over. Now Article 356 should be used and President’s rule imposed in Orissa,” Paswan said. Sources in the Cabinet also revealed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the Home Department to keep the Bajrang Dal on the “watch list”. The Prime Minister, during a recently held Cabinet meeting, is said to have directed that the saffron outfit be kept under watch, particularly because Home Minister Shivraj Patil was dithering over the issue.Sources said the Centre was seriously considering both the demands and a decision on the same would be taken during a special Cabinet meeting on the Kandhamal issue to be held soon.
