Uttar Pradesh, India: Varanasi Police in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday registered an FIR against Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and two other Members of Parliament for allegedly insulting Sanatan Dharma and hurting religious sentiments during an Opposition protest in Parliament, an official said.
According to Gaurav Banswal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kashi Zone, the FIR was registered at Kotwali police station following a complaint submitted by a group of seers. The complaint alleged that Lok Sabha MPs Rahul Gandhi, Pappu Yadav and Awadhesh Prasad insulted Sanatan Dharma during the protest.
Rajesh Ranjan, popularly known as Pappu Yadav, is an Independent MP from Purnia in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, while Awadhesh Prasad is a Samajwadi Party MP representing Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh.
Seer Jagatguru Balak Das alleged that the manner in which Pappu Yadav portrayed Lord Ram and Sanatan Dharma during the protest was "unforgivable".
"No follower of Sanatan Dharma can forget this act. It has hurt our religious sentiments. So we have demanded that a case be registered," he said.
On Friday, MPs from the INDIA bloc, including Indian National Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest over alleged theft of donations at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and police action against student protesters during the 20 July Parliament march.
As part of the protest, Opposition MPs staged a skit to highlight the alleged donation theft. Donation boxes were placed near the stairs leading to the Makar Dwar entrance of Parliament. The MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, were seen placing money into the boxes, while Pappu Yadav, dressed in saffron robes and seated beside the boxes, enacted the role of someone pocketing the donations.
The INDIA bloc also demanded the resignation of Indian Union Home Minister Amit Shah and questioned his absence from Parliament during the proceedings.
The MPs raised slogans including "Amit Shah istifa do", "Amit Shah sadan mein aao" and "Chadhawa chor, gaddi chorh".
Among those who participated in the protest were Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party MPs Awadhesh Prasad and Dharmendra Yadav, and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP Mahua Maji, who stood behind a banner reading, "Amit Shah sadan se gayab kyun?"
