Mocks Sanatan Dharma: BJP files complaint against Rahul Gandhi over Ram Mandir skit
BJP leaders on Saturday filed a police complaint in Delhi against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Independent MP Pappu Yadav and Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh
BJP leaders on Saturday filed a police complaint in Delhi against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Independent MP Pappu Yadav and Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad over a skit staged during a protest in the Parliament complex on the embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya. In Varanasi, police also registered an FIR against the three leaders on a complaint by some seers. Read Full Story The BJP alleged that the skit mocked Sanatan culture and insulted Indian traditions. The protest by the Opposition was held on Friday as the INDIA bloc tried to target the government during the Monsoon session over the donation theft and the use of force against students protesting over the NEET paper leak. New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj, along with BJP MLAs, submitted the complaint at Parliament Street police station.
She alleged that the actions of Gandhi, Pappu Yadav and Awadhesh Prasad amounted to a "mockery" of Sanatan culture and an attempt to ridicule Indian traditions. During the protest in front of the Makar Dwar in the Parliament complex on Friday, Pappu Yadav, dressed in saffron clothes, performed the skit with other Opposition MPs. As part of it, the MPs, including Gandhi, put money into boxes, while Independent MP Rajesh Ranjan, known as Pappu Yadav, slipped money into his pockets to symbolise the alleged theft at the Ram temple. Varanasi Police registered a case against the three leaders on the basis of a formal complaint submitted at Kotwali police station by some seers, who alleged that the MPs had insulted Sanatan Dharma, according to Gaurav Banswal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kashi Zone.
Yadav is the Independent MP from Purnia in Bihar, while Awadhesh Prasad is the Samajwadi Party MP from Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh. Seer Jagatguru Balak Das said the manner in which Pappu Yadav insulted Lord Ram and Sanatan Dharma in the House was unforgivable. "No follower of Sanatan Dharma can forget this act. It has hurt our religious sentiments. So we have demanded that a case be registered," he said. On Saturday, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal activists also held a protest in Bhopal against the Opposition leaders over the skit. The protesters raised slogans against Rahul Gandhi and tried to march from Vyapam Square to Link Road, but were stopped by police barricades. Some activists tried to cross the barricades, leading to scuffles.
On Friday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi were part of the protest against the "theft" of donations and the police crackdown on student agitators during the Cockroach Janta Party's July 20 march to Parliament. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party leaders Awadhesh Prasad and Dharmendra Yadav, and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's Mahua Maji were among those who joined the protest behind a banner that read, "Amit Shah Sadan Se Gayab Kyun?" Meanwhile, the row over the skit led to a police complaint in Delhi, an FIR in Varanasi and street protests by Hindutva groups in Bhopal. Ends
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