Since when reciting Hanuman Chalisa has became seditious, asks BJP; backs Ranas

MP Navneet Rana at Santacruz Station, after she along with her husband Ravi Rana were arrested for promoting enmity between different groups on Saturday. Pic/PTI

Coming out in defence of Independent lawmaker couple from Mahrashtra MLA Ravi Rana and his MP wife Navneet Rana-- the BJP on Sunday accused the state's MVA government of having hatred for the Hindu faith and asked since when reciting the Hanuman Chalisa has become seditious.

The BJP's support for the couple came a day after the Mumbai police arrested the Ranas for "creating enmity between different groups" after they announced they will recite the Hanuman Chalisa in front of the residence of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

As the announcement triggered angry reactions from Shiv Sena supporters, many of whom laid siege to the residence of the Ranas in Mumbai's Khar, the couple had to be whisked away by police. They were remanded in judicial custody by a Mumbai court on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia defended the Ranas and recited few couplets from the Hanuman Chalisa.

Dubbing the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi dispensation as "Maha Vasooli" (extortionist) government, Bhatia said in Maharshtra if somebody chants the Hanuman Chalisa the government slaps a sedition case against them.

"In India we can proudly chant Hanuman Chalisa. Since when it has become treason to chant it? The state government has hatred towards faith of Hindus," Bhatia said.

Taking on the Congress, an ally in the Maharashtra government, Bhatia claimed, in its manifesto for the 2019 general elections the party had announced it will scrap the sedition law if voted to power. Now it is part of the government which is using the same law, he said.

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