Congress calls PM jibe an insult to Hanuman bhakts, BJP hits back

New Delhi: A fresh slugfest started on Tuesday between Congress and BJP after PM Narendra Modi described Congress's promise to ban Bajrang Dal as an attempt to jail those chanting 'Jai Bajrang Bali'.

Congress demanded that Modi apologise to the country for equating Lord Hanuman with Bajrang Dal. "He is insulting our faith in Lord Hanuman. He should apologise to the country, as he has hurt our religious sentiments," party spokesman Pawan Khera said.

This invited retaliation from BJP which said this was an attempt to "save" the proscribed Popular Front of India and the "height of appeasement politics". "This is the very Congress which gave an affidavit, on Sonia Gandhi's instructions, saying Lord Ram doesn't exist. He is just an imagination. Therefore, they don't have any importance on Ramayan," BJP's Sambit Patra said. "This is not new for Congress as chanting of Jai Shri Ram appears to it to be communal politics," he added.

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai said, "Devotees of Lord Hanuman are Bajrangis of Bajrang Dal. If devotees of Lord Hanuman revolt, Congress will be removed from India from its roots." Bajrang Dal's national convener Neeraj Douneriya claimed Congress was doing politics of hate. He said it should be ashamed for putting a "patriotic outfit" like Bajrang Dal in the same bracket as PFI and to talk about banning it.