After the Supreme Court issued a notice to Babu Bajrangi, the self-styled saviour and messiah of the Patel community, the Bajrang Dal has hurriedly tried to wash its hands of its most famous face. The Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) yesterday issued releases disowning Bajrangi. The court had on Monday issued notices to Bajrangi and Governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra, in a petition filed by several Mumbai-based youths, who stated that they were being harassed by Bajrangi for having married Gujarati girls.Talking to The Indian Express here, Bajrang Dal state president Ranchod Bharwad said that Bajrangi was never a part of Bajrang Dal. “He was given the charge of a small unit about seven years back and since then he has been out of touch,” Bharwad said. “There is no question of expelling him as he was never a part of the organisation in the first place,” he added.“It is the media that portrayed Babu as a Bajrang Dal member for so long,” Bharwad said, adding that the organisation has decided to make its stance clear with regard to Bajrangi as the notice issued to him for kidnapping, is being perceived as a notice served on Bajrang Dal and VHP.The notices came on a petition filed by Ajay Nikam, Raju Medige and Abhijit Vijay Sonavane who have alleged that they are being harassed by Bajrangi at the behest of their Patel in-laws from Gujarat.Bajrangi, one of the prime accused in the Naroda Patiya case, has emerged as the most vigilant moral police of the State who had only recently created a ruckus over the release of the film Parzania based on a real-life story of 2002 riot case and ensured that it is not released in the state. Apart from number of riot-related cases, cases of abduction of girls who married inter-caste or inter-religion, too, are pending against him. He has also forced a number of Patel girls to undergo abortion after he ‘rescued’ them from their lovers.“He (Babu) works in his own style and has a different way of functioning,” said Bharwad, adding that his ways are not the ways of Bajrang Dal. Bajrangi has become a hot potato for BJP as well. His co-accused in Naroda Patiya massacre case and current BJP MLA from Naroda Maya Kodnani feigned complete ignorance about the issue saying that she is not aware of anything pertaining to Bajrang Dal and VHP.Babu himself remained unavailable for his comments on the issue.However, a member of Navchetan, an organisation run by him, said that so far no notice, neither of the apex court nor of Bajrang Dal has reached him. “We shall comment on this only when we get to see the notice,” he said.
