Giriraj Singh seethes at Madani for demanding ban on Bajrang Dal

Patna: Union minister Giriraj Singh on Monday threw a fit over the demand for a ban on Bajrang Dal, in Congress-ruled Karnataka, raised by Maulana Arshad Madani.

Singh was responding to a speech of Madani wherein the latter had defended the "promise" to ban Bajrang Dal made by the Congress in its election manifesto and asserted that it was a step that should have been ideally taken "70 years ago".

The Union minister, who wears his Hindu nationalism on his sleeves, reacted testily saying "all Muslims should have been sent to Pakistan at the time of the Partition itself".

Singh, who represents Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency of Bihar, added "but for this lapse on part of our ancestors (poorvaj) there would have been no Muslims left in the country and we would not have had to contend with the likes of Madani and (AIMIM president) Asaduddin Owaisi. Nor would have the threat of Gajwa-e-Hind loomed large on India".

The BJP, to which Singh belongs, has taken affront to Congress equating Bajrang Dal, one of the many offshoots of its parent body RSS, with a "terrorist" organisation like the Islamist PFI.

In the manifesto, the Congress, which went on to win a handsome majority, overthrowing BJP from power in Karnataka, had stated that it would not hesitate from taking stern action, including a ban if the need arose, against organizations like Bajrang Dal and PFI which allegedly disturbed communal harmony.

Singh also fumed at former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti reportedly paying tributes to legendary Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan.

"Tipu Sultan was an invader (aakranta) who had set his foot on Indian soil to loot its riches. In that respect he was like the British. His fight against the British was not a fight for India's freedom but aimed at preserving his own empire," the Union minister said.

Born in 17th century to Haider Ali, a military general who used his acumen to assume political control of Mysore, Tipu Sultan became a bone of contention between the BJP and its rivals during the recently held Karnataka polls.

The BJP had sought to repudiate the accounts of most of historians that Tipu Sultan had died fighting the British colonialists and insisted that the Mysore ruler was slain by those belonging to the "Vokkaliga" community, which the saffron party had aggressively tried to woo.

Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) reacted to Singh's statement, pointing out that the BJP leader's averment ran contrary to his proclaimed ideals.

"Giriraj Singh, like all in the BJP, draws inspiration from the RSS which has always sworn by Akhand Bharat. Now, by advocating that all Muslims be sent to Pakistan, the Union minister seeks to negate the very concept of Akhand Bharat," said JD(U) chief spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar.