Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal activists staged protests in several parts of the state on Thursday against the Congress election manifesto, which proposed banning the latter in the event of the party coming to power in Karnataka. At some places, “Hanuman Chalisa” was also chanted. The protestors are slated to chant “Hanuman Chalisa” on Thursday evening at Hanuman temples or any other temple to protest against the Congress promise.
The protests took place in Bengaluru, Chikkaballapura, Srirangapatna, Mandya, and Chikkamagaluru, among others, VHP sources said. In Srirangapatna, Bajrang Dal activists tore the Congress manifesto and slapped it with slippers to express their outrage. Bajrang Dal leaders and Hindu religious leaders associated with the VHP have appealed to the people in video messages to come with their family members in great numbers to Hanuman or any other temple to chant ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ on Thursday evening. One of the religious heads appealed to the people to come together and “demonstrate Hindu unity, which should eventually reflect on May 10” (the date of Karnataka Assembly elections).
Hanuman Chalisa is a set of 40 couplets penned by a 16th-century poet and devotee of Lord Rama, Goswami Tulsidas, in ‘Awadhi’, one of the dialects of Hindi spoken predominantly in Uttar Pradesh. In its manifesto for the 10 May Assembly elections in Karnataka, the Congress said it was committed to taking firm and decisive action against individuals and organisations spreading hatred amongst communities on grounds of caste and religion. The Congress said, “We believe that the law and Constitution are sacrosanct and cannot be violated by individuals and organisations like Bajrang Dal, PFI, or others promoting enmity or hatred, whether among majority or minority communities.
We will take decisive action as per law, including imposing a ban on such organisations.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his public meeting at Hospet in Vijayanagara district
on Tuesday.