Bajrang Dal is a pro-Hindutva, nationalist organization. BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in Belagavi on Thursday that the Congress has neither the right nor the guts to ban it.
Addressing a campaign rally at Tilak Chowk in the old city, he said the audacity of the Congress to compare Bajrang Dal with some anti-national organizations and announce a ban on it if voted to power would lead to its defeat.
“I challenge the Congress to ban Bajrang Dal if its leaders have the guts or the ability to do so,” he said.
He listed the achievements of the BJP-led NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the people of Karnataka are among the beneficiaries of these centrally sponsored schemes.
He faced opposition from Maharashtra Integration Committee workers at Tilak Chowk. They showed black flags and raised slogans against him. He said leaders from Maharashtra were welcomed in Belagavi only to campaign for MES candidates and not for other parties.
Police dispersed the protesters.
“If leaders from Maharashtra come here to campaign for Congress or BJP, it will hurt the sentiments of Marathi speaking people in Belagavi. Whenever this happens, we will oppose it.