Former BJP MP H T Sangliana, in a letter to home minister V S Acharya, has said that Christian militancy could be the new reality in the state if attacks on the community continue
Self-defence Militancy Could Be A New Reality, Sangliana Told Home Minister
Bangalore, Mar 12 : Is Karnataka a breeding ground for a new kind of militancy arising from self-defence? Former BJP MP and police commissioner H T Sangliana certainly thinks so.In a letter on August 18, 2008, Sangliana told home minister V S Acharya rather bluntly that Christian militancy could be the new reality in the state if attacks on the community continue.
Such a direct, public and formal communication by a then serving MP to a state home minister is perhaps a first of its kind. Sangliana’s letter stressed on ‘militancy’ and ‘self-defence’.
THE LETTER TO V S ACHARYA
“Targeting and repeatedly attacking the most non-violent community in Karnataka, on baseless charges, calls for firm handling by the government before militancy for self-protection is forced to be born in the Christian community out of sheer necessity for selfdefence,” the letter stated.
The former top cop further observed: “Cases of violence are increasing these days due to indifference on the part of police officers despite being duly informed by the priests for protection. Police are found to be always on the side of the attackers. They ask the priests to obtain permission to worship instead of dealing with anti-social elements firmly...” The attacks, he said, were ‘on imaginary and made-up conversion charges without proof ’.
Sangliana had conducted a spot inquiry then into incidents of attacks on churches in Mangalore and Bantwal. The team comprising a Muslim, Hindu and Christian was ‘of the considered opinion that Bajrang Dal had carried out the attacks, which they themselves had admitted’.
‘TAKE ACTION AGAINST ATTACKERS’
Sangliana warned in his letter: “Stern action is needed to stop such baseless attacks in future so that communal harmony continues in the state where Christians have always lived in complete peace, harmony and friendship with other communities for centuries.”
He told TOI he had suggested a committee of senior ex-policemen to help tackle issues of security and protection of minorities in the state. “This can help improve law and order. But the home minister hasn’t got back to me on that. Where is he?”
[source: Times of India, Bangalore Edition, Published on Mar 12, 2009]
