Bengaluru, May 3 : Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar on Wednesday questioned the connection between Lord Hanuman and Bajrang Dal, and stayed put not to make any amends in the party’s election manifesto.
“Anjaneya (Lord Hanuman) and Bajrang Dal are different. It is only an outfit. The BJP should campaign by chanting Bajrang Bali’s name …,” he told reporters here.
The BJP is alarmed over the promise of the Congress to ban Bajrang Dal, Shivakumar said, adding that there will not be any changes made in the party’s manifesto.
Calling himself a stauch devotee of Lord Hanuman and a Hindu, Shivakumar said the party promised to ban Bajrang Dal because it does not want to disturb the peace in Karnataka.
“I am a Hindu, and a devotee of Lord Hanuman and Lord Ram. Are they (BJP leaders) only devotees of Lord Hanuman? The paradise of peace, Karnataka, should not be disturbed. There should be harmony,” he said.
This promise of the Congress in its manifesto has ruffled the wrong side of the feathers, as the Sangh Parivar came vehemently out in the public, condemning it.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said no state government has the right to ban Bajrang Dal because the outfit is present in all the states. “The Congress wants to ban the organisation only to create trouble in the society,” he said.
On Hanuman Chalisa recital programme scheduled to be organised by Bajrang Dal on Thursday, Shivakumar said the saffron brigade are not the only people who recite Hanuman Chalisa, but they do it every day.
Several Hindu organisations and Bajrang Dal have announced the recital of Hanuman Chalisa in all temples of the state.
Let the Bajrangis do anything they want, but Congress is going to win 141 seats for sure, Shivakumar said.
The assembly election in Karnataka is scheduled to be held on May 10, and the votes will be counted on May 13.(UNI)