Ponda, June 27 (TNN): Sriram sena chief Pramod Mutalik Wednesday evening announced plans to set up a Goa branch of his organization by September and said he wants pubs, sex mafia and night clubs to shut down in the state.
Mutalik, in Goa to attend the ongoing All India Hindu convention at Ramnathi, Ponda, said his organization would do everything to clamp down on "westernization" of Indian culture in Goa. He said pubs are not Indian culture and he would not allow drug and sex mafia in the name of pubs. "We have to root out the drug and sex mafias which are operating in the name of pubs and night clubs," he said.
Mutalik said, "Sena is not an extremist group to ban its entry in any state of its own country. Whatever we will do in the Goa will be within the framework of the law. Being an Indian, I have a fundamental right to move freely in any part of the country."
He said there is not much of a difference between his sena and the BJP except that his is not a political organization.
Responding to chief minister Manohar Parrikar's reported statement that people like Mutalik should not be allowed in Goa, the sena chief said some people must have given Parrikar wrong information about him and that he would clear his (Parrikar's) doubts by meeting him soon.
He claimed that a large number of youngsters from Goa have been calling the sena daily wanting an office in the state.
In January 2009, about 15 to 20 activists of the Sriram Sena had assaulted some youth in a Mangalore pub, claiming they had been engaged in an obscene dance which is against Indian culture. The assault, particularly on girls, had evoked nation-wide outrage.
Mutalik claimed this act was for the benefit of society and after that incident the mother of a girl who was allegedly assaulted by the sena had thanked him. "The mother thanked me and said that my group had saved her daughter," Mutalik said.
Soon after that he had expressed his desire to set up base in Goa on the ground that the culture in Goa was turning extremely westernized and there was a need to change this culture. In April 2009, the then state government had banned his entry in the state.
The sena has around 4 lakh members including about 5,500 "active" workers spread in 22 of the 30 districts of Karnataka.