Hindu Mahasabha cancels Khadga Diksha

Mangalore, Oct 26: As people anxiously waited to see how things would turn out in the case of'khadga diksha' programme scheduled to take place on Friday by a Hindu outfit, the day ensued without any untoward occurring in the city.

It could be recalled that Swami Pranavanandaram of the Karnataka unit of Akhila Bharat Hindu Mahasabha had announced at a press conference last month, announcing'khadga dikshe' or distribution of swords to 5000 Hindu youth at a public function in Mangalore for the protection of Hindu dharma, as the police and administration had failed to do so.

Concerned over this, Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike (KKSV) filed a complaint at the Mangalore North police station on September 24, in which six persons were booked under sections 153A (promoting enmity among groups) and 505(1)(b) (making a statement likely to cause fear or alarm to the public) of the Indian Penal Code.

Distribution of swords is illegal as per the Constitutional law of India. Although the day on which the programme was scheduled dawned, there was no indication that any distribution of swords had taken place in the city.

Speaking to Coastaldigest.com, district president of KKSV Suresh Bhat Bakrabail said that the organisation had submitted a written reminder to the Commissioner of Police, Mangalore, Inspector General of Police (Western Range) and Director General of Police a couple of days ago, and that the IGP Pratap Reddy had assured them of appropriate action as per the legal process if the programme were to take place.

“Looking at the history of the Hindu outfit, they may have carried out the programme, although symbolically and not publicly,” he opined.

Swami Pranavanandaram, however, hinted that what had to take place, had been done. “The organisations who have filed a case against us (six persons) fail to understand that'khadga dikshe' is an ancient tradition being followed by the Hindu community. From the point of view that we could be arrested if we carried on with the distribution of swords, we did not hold a public programme. However, the Hindu Mahasabha will definitely hold the'khadga dikshe' publicly in Mangalore in the future, within the legal framework,” he said.

“We conducted it in other places in secret. But have not conducted it here,” said a member of the religious outfit.

Whether or not a public'dikshe' will take place in the near future, for now, most concerns and fears of communal tension have ebbed away.