Bajrang Punia, an Olympic bronze medallist and one of the central figures leading the ongoing protest against the arrest and removal of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, national chief of the Wrestling Federation of India, over the alleged sexual harassment allegations, found himself in controversy after sharing an Instagram post supporting Bajrang Dal.
On May 7, the grappler posted an Instagram story featuring a picture of Bhagwan Bajrangbali saying, “I am Bajrangi. I support Bajrang Dal. Jai Shri Ram”. The post also had captions requesting people to keep this picture on WhatsApp display and post it on their status.
However, Punia deleted the story after facing severe criticism and backlash from the netizens. One user even called him a bigot. This attack mostly came from those who opposed the current BJP government and RSS. One user called him a “bigot”, and another posted, “Shame on all those who supported these snakes”. Furthermore, Radio Mirchi RJ Sayema remarked on Punia’s post, asking, “Seriously! Well! You really need to decide what kind of a society you want @BajrangPunia Hooliganism or peaceful existence!”.
However, on the other hand, the users criticised the grappler for surrendering to pressure and ‘apologising for his beliefs”. A Twitter user Kavita (@Sassy_Hindu) said, “Bajrang Punia removes a post supporting Bajrang Dal from his Instagram account after being attacked by liberals. Applying pressure against Hindu organisations is wrong. But giving into that pressure & apologising for your beliefs is far worse”.
This controversy surrounding Bajrang Dal erupted after the release of the Congress’s Manifesto for the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections on May 10. In the manifesto, Congress promised to ban groups such as Bajrang Dal if they came to power in Karnataka. Bajrang Dal is a youth wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
Since its origin, Bajrang Dal, driven by the motto of ‘Seva-Suraksha-Sanskar’ (‘National Service-Security-Culture’), has been tirelessly working for the betterment of the country.
The Congress’s manifesto for the upcoming Karnataka elections has faced severe backlash. The party went on damage control and said there was no proposal to ban the group and that the power of banning lies with the central government only. The President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, DK Shivakumar, said they would build Bhagwan Hanuman temples in the state if the party came to power.
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