Bajrang Dal ban promise by Congress is political gimmick: JDS' Kumaraswamy

Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy hit out at the Congress' claim of banning the Bajrang Dal if it emerges victorious in the assembly elections in Karnataka and stated why did the party not ban the Bajrang Dal when they were ruling the state. Speaking exclusively to Republic TV he also termed the potential step by the Congress as a ‘political gimmick’. However Congress after the manifesto announcement seemed to backtrack on the claims as senior party leaders said there was no plan for a ban on the Hindu outfit.   

Notably, Congress announcing the party’s manifesto called 'Sarva Janangada Shanthiya Thota' (peaceful garden of all communities) for the upcoming assembly elections in the state had said the party will take 'decisive action' as per law against Bajrang Dal, PFI or any other organisation, including imposing a ban on them.      

Why no ban on Bajrang Dal when Congress was in power: Kumaraswamy

HD Kumaraswamy speaking to Republic TV said, “Why they haven’t banned the Bajrang Dal when they run the state for five years. At that time, they would have banned the organisation. Now, only for election gimmick, they announced it this way,” he further added such announcements are made without looking at the constitutional side of it, “The two national parties by announcing several issues without applying their mind legally or constitutionally, these people are announcing everything but those things are not going to be implemented by both the parties,” he opined. 

After the massive backlash to the ‘ban Bajrang Dal’ announcement by the grand old party, heavyweights from the Karnataka Congress said there was no plan for a ban, former Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah speaking to Republic TV said, "We haven't said it (on banning Bajrang Dal). We said that the outfit which is spreading hatred among the people and outfit which is creating violence in the society and is responsible for the breach of peace in society, only in such circumstances, we will abolish organisations like PFI, SDPI and Bajrang Dal. If they indulge in anti-society activities then we will think of abolishing them. Without evidence no organisation can be abolished," Siddaramaiah said.

‘State government doesn't have power’

Another senior party leader and former union minister of Law Veerappa Moily said the state doesn’t have the authority to ban Bajrang Dal, "The state government doesn't have the power to ban PFI or Bajrang dal. DK Shivakumar will give clarity on the same. The proposal was never with us in the Centre or state. We have gone by the Supreme Court judgement to stop hate politics. The such promise may have been inserted because of the same. But I can tell as a leader that we have no proposal to ban Bajrang Dal," he said.