RAIPUR: Almost a year ahead of the Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, communal polarization is beginning to take root.
The ruling Congress has served a legal notice on the BJP asking it to show proof if Lord Ram or Krishna belonged to the saffron party alone.
Newly-appointed state BJP chief Arun Sao, Bilaspur MP, has issued a controversial statement saying that Ram and Krishna “belong to everyone but not the Congress.”
“Everyone knows what the Congress said and did for Lord Ram in the past. They disputed the existence of Lord Ram citing no historical proof,” Sao said.
The BJP president’s remark was apparently the after-effect of the chief minister Bhupesh Baghel’s assertion that the BJP doesn’t have the sole right over Ram or Krishna as both remain deeply embedded in the hearts of everyone.
“I would like to ask the BJP to justify why Lord Ram or Krishna cannot be for Congress. I am a Congressman and as a devotee offer puja to both. In which document it is written that Shri Ram or Shri Krishna can only be for the BJP. If the BJP doesn’t respond to our legal notice and apologize within 15 days, a defamation suit will be filed by the Congress,” said advocate Dewa Dewangan, in-charge, Congress.
However the BJP retorted saying that such legal notice would not offer any respite to the Congress, which remained a “sinking ship.”
“The Congress is desperately attempting to keep itself politically relevant. We will respond to such a notice through an appropriate medium,” said Naresh Gupta, BJP legal cell.
The experts familiar with the state politics cited that the Bhupesh government is apparently seen as consistent in not letting the arch-political rival BJP gain an advantage on religious politics.