Will launch country-wide agitation: Computer Baba slams Yogi Adityanath over Hanuman comments
Self-styled godman Computer Baba Monday demanded apology from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Cabinet colleagues for their remarks about "caste and creed" of Lord Hanuman.
Self-styled godman Computer Baba Monday demanded apology from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Cabinet colleagues for their remarks about "caste and creed" of Lord Hanuman.
Computer Baba alias Namdevdas Tyagi, who was accorded the Minister of State status by the erstwhile BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, fell out with the party in run-up to the assembly elections.
The self-styled godman, who had held a "Sant Samagam" or conclave to mobilise support for the Congress during recently-held polls, also threatened to launch a countrywide agitation against Adityanath "if he continued making remarks about Hindu deities".
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister had reportedly said that Lord Hanuman was dalit.
"Yogi Adityanath should apologise in public for his remark or sants and seers would launch agitations against him across the country. Yogi not only made remarks but also told his ministers to make such remarks. They said Hanuman ji was dalit, a tribal, a Muslim. I am feeling sad," Baba told reporters at a press conference here.
He said Lord Hanuman doesn't belong to any caste, clan or creed, but belongs to all.
"We will not tolerate any remark about deities of Sanatan Dharma", he said.
Baba hoped the illegal mining around banks of the Narmada river would be stopped under newly-formed Congress government. "The work for saving cows would also be started soon", he said.
Baba had resigned as MoS accusing then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of failing to protect the cow and to stop illegal mining in the holy river.
Responding to a query whether he wished to become a minister again, Baba said, "If he (CM Kamal Nath) wanted to, he can consider. I will think whenever such situation arises".
Amid the growing debate on Lord Hanuman's identity, former Indian cricketer Chetan Chauhan has said that the lord was a sportsperson who is worshipped by many sportspersons even today, adding that his caste should not be discussed. "I believe that he (Lord Hanuman) was a sportsman who use to wrestle with his enemies. All the sportsmen of our country worship him as they require power and energy like him to emerge victorious. The players do not worship him because of his caste. There is no caste of a Saint, there is no caste of a mystic and in the same way, we believe in Hanuman Ji. I consider him as God; I do not want him to get associated with some sought of caste," he told reporters here on Saturday.
The debate over Lord Hanuman continued on Friday, with an Uttar Pradesh minister claiming that the Hindu deity belonged to the Jat community.
"Jats are descendants of Lord Hanuman. Hanumanji was a Jat," Uttar Pradesh Religious Affairs Minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary told PTI.
Explaining the rationale behind his statement, Chaudhary said, "Lord Ram's wife, goddess Sita, was abducted by Ravan, but Lanka was burnt by Hanumanji. If injustice is being done to someone by someone and the third person does not know either of them. This is the nature of Jats...they intervene whenever any injustice is done to anybody." This is the latest in a series of identities that have been attributed to Lord Hanuman.
In an interesting twist to the debate over Lord Hanuman after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath termed the god a Dailt, his party colleague and MLC Bukkal Nawab Thursday said the deity was "actually a Muslim". He was actually a Muslim "Lord Hanuman belongs to all, and as far as I think, Hanumanji was actually a Muslim," Nawab, who left the Samajwadi Party to join the BJP when the Yogi Adityanath government came to power, told reporters here. He argued that the deity's name is very similar to the names among Muslims and many of them are named after him.
Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh Sunday demanded apology from BJP leaders for "dragging" Lord Hanuman into the politics of "caste and creed".Singh also said Hindu bodies like the VHP and Akhada Parishad should condemn the statements made by the BJP leaders over the Hindu deity who is worshipped as an incarnation of Lord Shiva.
"(Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi) Adityanath ji said Lord Hanuman was dalit. BJP's MLC Nawab Bukkal dubbed the deity a Muslim on the ground that his name rhymed with Islamic names like Rahman, Farhan, Ramzan etc. Another BJP minister said Hanuman was a Jat," he told reporters here.
Singh said Hindus considered Lord Hanuman as an incarnation of Lord Shiva."You are dragging Hanuman ji into politics of caste and creed, which religion you are following? I have a strong objection to this. Who are you to talk like this, you (BJP leaders) should apologise", he said.
The Congress veteran demanded that organisations like Akhada Parishad, an apex body of 13 major "akhadas" or ascetic denominations, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) condemn the statements made by the BJP leaders and snap ties with them.