Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has imposed an undeclared ban on Hanuman Chalisa in the state and their actions justify their anti-Hindu character, said the Vishwa Hindu Parishad spokesperson Vinod Bansal on Monday. He also slammed the Uddhav government for arresting an MLA and MP couple who had marched towards 'Matoshree' to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside Thackeray's residence. Maharashtra Police booked MP Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana under the sedition act and several other sections of the IPC.
"Those who are trying to implement an undeclared ban on Hanuman Chalisa should avoid this. If somebody said that they will chant Hanuman Chalisa, how can you book them under sedition? Do an MLA and an MP not have the right to protest? Matoshree was once known as the temple of Hindutva but today it is crime to recite Hanuman Chalisa there," said Vinod Bansal.
Amid the row over loudspeakers and Hanuman Chalisa in Maharashtra, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has clarified again that neither their Maharashtra unit nor Bajrang Dal workers will be participating in any drive of installing loudspeakers and playing Hanuman Chalisa launched by a political party or politician.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad spokesperson said that the VHP is in support of the cause but their workers will not be participating in any program or call by a political party or politician. The news was making rounds that the VHP and Bajrang Dal workers will be participating in the movement to be launched by MNS chief Raj Thackrey against the loudspeakers at religious places.
Referring to a decision by Supreme Court on noise pollution in 2005, Vinod Bansal said that if the decision was obeyed in a true spirit, all the loudspeakers would have been removed till now but unfortunately only Hindu religious programs are stopped from playing loudspeakers not others. "Government should be rational in its approach. If you are allowing people from other communities to play loudspeakers, how can you stop Hindus from chanting Hanuman Chalisa? he added.
On being asked if VHP was also planning to jump into the recent row, the spokesperson said that they have been demanding from time to time that loudspeakers should be removed from these religious places. All governments should show a will like the Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath government where more than 22,000 loudspeakers have already been removed and more than 40,000 have been silenced so far.
