Prakash Sharma is a senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He is the former full-time RSS pracharak, national convenor of  Bajrang Dal, and the current vice-president of the BJP in UP. He had also served as the VHP’s national spokesperson.

Sharma played a critical role in deflecting the role of the Bajrang Dal in 2008 anti-Christian violence in Orrisa, where 35 people were killed. “The Dal has no role at all in the Orissa violence,” he said.

The same year he dared the then Indian government to ban the group, warning that the authorities would face the “consequences” if it was outlawed.

“We will fight the ban and we will go to the people to explain the injustice done to us. The elections are coming up soon and it [a ban] will prove costly for the government,” he told Gulf News.