BHUBANESWAR, JAN 29: President of the Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC), Hemananda Biswal, on Thursday said that the Centre should impose a ban on the activities of organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal, in view of the increasing communal tension and attacks on minorities in the country.``A time has come to ban the activities of these organisations,'' Biswal, who visited Manoharpur in Keonjhar district where Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two sons were burnt to death, told a news conference here.Biswal was accompanied to Manoharpur by general secretary of OPCC, Sitakant Mahapatra, and Congress MLA, Ripunath Seth. Biswal alleged that communal forces have started creating disturbances after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed power in the State. He referred to the attack on churches in Dangs districts of Gujarat and statements given by Shiv Seva chief Bal Thackeray on the Pakistan cricket team's tour to India.Asserting that the BajrangDal was behind the Manoharpur incident, the OPCC president alleged that the main accused, Dara Singh, was the election agent of the BJP for Patna Assembly segment in the Keonjhar Lok Sabha constituency during the last polls.The OPCC president refuted charges by the BJP that Singh had links with the Congress. Biswal also alleged that Singh also had close links with Chhotelal Mahanta, the coordinator of the VHP for Keonjhar district. He said that Bajrang Dal activists had even staged a dharna in front of a police station demanding the release of Singh when he was arrested in connection with a criminal case sometime back.Replying to questions, Biswal said that Singh was active in the area for several years. Police has registered several cases against him, he added.Replying to questions, Biswal said that the motive behind the Manoharpur incident will become clear only after the inquiry. He said that there was no tension between the Hindu and Christian tribals in the area, as the Australian missionaryGraham Stewart Staines was only working among the leprosy patients.Biswal regretted that there was no full-fledged Superintendent of Police in Keonjhar district for the last two months. He announced that the Congress will launch a sadbhavana rally all over the State to counter the growing influence of communal forces. The Congress campaign against communal forces will start from January 30.
