Belgaum: After Goa Chief Minister’s banning of hardline Hindutva outfit Sri Ram Sene, from opening its branch in the state, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah today told reporters in Belgaum that the government is mulling a ban on the group.
“Sri Ram Sene has already been banned in Goa and it is inevitable for us to think in the same direction to ensure law and order across the state,” Siddaramaiah said.
Founded in the 1960s, the ring wing Hindu nationalist group came to notoriety in 2009, when its members barged into a pub and attacked young women, accusing them of “indecent behaviour” and “an insult to Hindu culture and tradition”.
The attack which garnered wide spread condemnation, brought Sri Ram Sene to the forthwith of national and international attention, with even RSS favouring a ban on the organisation.
Since then, the group has been involved in a spate of violent speeches and actions especially targeted against women, and the minority Muslim and Christian communities.
In 2012, with a clear intention to flare up communal tensions between different communities, its members had raised Pakistan’s national flag on a government building in Sindgi, near Bijapur, Karnataka and then accused the Muslim community for the mischief. The incident lead to angry protests by Hindu organisations and the stoning of a mosque. Six members of the group were later arrested for “creating communal disharmony.”
The state’s decision to put a ban on the outfit has left its leader fuming. Muthalik said, “Sri Ram Sena is a registered body under the law. Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parikkar is a foolish CM and Siddaramaiah need not think on those lines.”
