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BJP fears Dara will open a Pandora's box

M I Khan in Bhubaneswar

The arrest of Rabindrapal aka Dara Singh on Monday has again brought to the fore his alleged links with the Bajrang Dal, causing Bharatiya Janata Party politicians, who are preparing for the forthcoming assembly election, to lose sleep.

They fear that Singh's interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the state police could open a Pandora's box.

The accused has steadfastly denied any link with any organisation of the Sangh Parivar. And even the Justice D P Wadhwa Commission had absolved the Bajrang Dal of involvement in the murder of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two sons.

But while Dara Singh may not have been connected with the Bajrang Dal, he was certainly linked with its 'Hinduvta' agenda, as indicated by his close association with the Gau Suraksha Samiti and his open campaigning for the BJP in the 1998 Lok Sabha election.

While investigating the Staines's murders, the police found that Dara Singh had been arrested under sections 341, 294, 307 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code during the 1998 Lok Sabha election. A first information report filed at the Patna police station in Keonjhar district accused him of being involved in an attack on Patna block chairman Bidyadhar Das. An intelligence report submitted in this connection to the home department named Dara Singh and his associate, Chatrubhuj Mohanta, as BJP activists. In fact, Mohanty was an active member of the Bajrang Dal's Keonjhar unit.

Police sources further said that as per case 79/77 of the Patna police station, the FIR filed by Biranchi Kumar Mohanta mentioned Dara Singh as a Bajrang Dal activist. According to state intelligence sources, more than a dozen cases were registered against Dara Singh in Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts between 1996 and 1998, mostly concerning anti-Muslim activities.

Police have also named Dara Singh as the main accused in the murders of shopkeeper Sheikh Raheman and Father Arul Doss, which followed the Staines's murders.

Police sources also claimed that the BJP politicians of Keonjhar had sought Dara Singh's release when he was in custody earlier in connection with some other cases. The BJP has denied these charges.

But ever since Dara Singh first arrived in Keonjhar district, he has been posing as a saviour of Hindutva. His first target was Muslim cattle traders and small-time Muslim shopkeepers in the Thakurmunda area. Only in the latter part of 1998 did he turn his attention towards the Christian missionaries working in tribal-dominated Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj.

Simultaneously, he was getting involved in political activities among the local people. He started motivating the tribals to organise themselves with the Bajrang Dal and even got a local square in Patna renamed Hanuman Chowk.

Incidentally, the first FIR filed by Ralia Soren, the main witness in the Staines's murder, had revealed that Dara Singh had campaigned with Bajrang Dal activists in the villages of Manoharpur to propagate 'Hindutva'. Similarly they had chanted 'Bajrangbali ki jai' while setting Staines's vehicle on fire.

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