Lucknow: While the controversy created by CM Yogi Aditaynath by allegedly calling Lord Hanuman a Dalit during Rajasthan poll campaign is far from over, a BJP lawmaker Bukkal Nawab stirred the hornet’s nest on Thursday by claiming that ‘Hanuman ji was actually a Muslim’.
However, BJP MLC Bukkal Nawab justified his claim by presenting a weird reason saying that Muslims had names like Arman, Rehman, Furqan, Zeeshan, Rehan, Salman which rhymed with Hanuman. “This
proves that ‘Hanuman’ Ji was also a Muslim. All the names which are used in Muslims are derived from ‘Hanuman’; you will not find any similar sounding names among Hindus,”he added giving a rather unusual logic for Lord Hanuman to be a Muslim.
Bukkal Nawab is a former Samajwadi Party leader who had switched over to the BJP by resigning from his seat in State Council early last year at the time CM Yogi Adityanath and his two deputy CMs were
seeking election to the upper house of state legislature.
However, after CM Yogi’s alleged statement over Lord Hanuman, there has been a series of statements from different quarters including some BJP leaders also. A senior BJP leader and Yogi cabinet colleague, Chaudhary Lakshmi Narayan created a furore in the state Assembly on Thursday by calling Lord Hanuman a ‘jat’ by caste.
Earlier also, BJP leaders were trying to outsmart each other in finding connection of Lord Hanuman with their respective castes. While Central minister Satyapal Chaudhary called him an ‘Arya’, Nand Kishore, chief, state Scheduled Tribe Commission, called Lord Hanuman a ‘tribal’.
Meanwhile, Bukkal Nawab handed over enough ammo to the opposition to target the BJP. While Congress MLC Deepak Singh said that BJP should decide first to which caste Hanuman ji belonged, the SP also
attacked the BJP over the remarks on Hanuman calling it uncalled for.