INDIA: An extremist Hindu leader, who is part of India's Hindu nationalist-led federal coalition, has been charged with promoting communal disharmony for wanting to raise suicide squads to fight Muslim terrorists to make the country more secure.
"Terrorists must be born amongst you (Hindus) too, but they must be suicide squads ready to die for the cause of making this (India) a Hindu rashtra (homeland). Otherwise it will be a lost cause," declared Mr Bal Thackeray, head of the Shiv Sena party in western Maharashtra state, of which Bombay is the capital.
"Nobody is above the law. If Thackeray feels that he is not guilty then he should prove it in court," state deputy chief minister Mr Chhagan Bhujbal said.
Mr Bhujbal said he was going to send a copy of Mr Thackeray's speech to Prime Minister Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee to let him know that his ally was openly demanding to be given control of the army.
"It is up to the Prime Minister to decide whether he wants to give the control of the Indian Army to Thackeray or not. Let the central government also know what Thackeray is saying in his speeches," Mr Bhujbal said.
If convicted under Section 153 of the Indian Penal Code for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race and acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony, Mr Thackeray faces a jail sentence of three to five years. He is likely to be arrested once investigations into his speech are complete.
Mr Thackeray has been in trouble twice before for his controversial statements. In an election campaign speech in the 1987 assembly elections, he had asked for votes on the basis of religion. And two years ago he was charged similarly for claiming to have "chastised" Muslims during Bombay's sectarian riots nearly a decade ago in which over 1,200 people died, but got off on a legal loophole.
The Shiv Sena, named after Shivaji, a 17th century Hindu warrior who successfully fought the Muslim armies of India's Mughal rulers, is politically and ideologically close to Mr Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which assumed power on an anti-Islamic platform.
"Words like law and order are nice to hear, but when the question of (our) existence arises, one has to take extreme steps," Mr Thackeray said in his party's magazine Samna (confrontation).
"Our patience has surpassed tolerance levels and now is the time to act," said Mr Thackeray, a former cartoonist who openly professes admiration for Adolf Hitler.
