BJP MLA son files police complaint against Digvijaya for 'saffron robe' remark

A police complaint has been filed against Congress leader Digvijaya Singh in the neighbouring Kushinagar district for his remarks that people donning saffron robes are committing rapes which are taking place in "temples", police said on Thursday.

In the complaint filed at the Kasia police station on Wednesday evening, Divyendu, son of Kushinagar BJP MLA Rajnikant Mani Tripathi, has accused Singh of promoting enmity between different religious groups and "hurting the sentiments of the Hindu community".

Speaking at a programme on Tuesday in Bhopal, Singh had said, "A person after parting ways with his family becomes a sadhu (monk)...and turns to spirituality. But today people wearing saffron robes are selling 'churan' (powder thought to have magical powers)".

"In saffron robes, rapes were taking place. Rapes were taking place in temples," he had told the gathering.

On the basis of Divyendu's written complaint, Singh has been booked under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion), 295 A (outraging religious feelings) and other relevant provisions, Kushinagar Superintendent of Police Vinod Kumar Mishra said.

"On September 17, I saw on TV that Digvijaya Singh was saying that people clad in saffron attire rape inside temples. Before this, on September 1, he gave a statement that the RSS and other Hindu organisations are more into terror activities than Muslims are and they take aid from the ISI (Pakistani spy agency)," Divyendu said.

"He also made a statement that Saraswati Shishu Mandir schools (run by RSS) are centre of terrorist activities. I am feeling very sad after hearing such derogatory remarks about Hindu organisations and saffron-clad people. So I demanded strict action against him," he added.

On Wednesday, speaking to reporters in Gorakhpur, senior BJP leader Uma Bharti had reacted sharply to the Congress leader's remarks.

He has lost his mental balance, self-confidence, and control over tongue, she had said.