New Delhi: Amravati MP Naveet Rana has written a letter to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla stating that her decision to chant Hanuman Chalisa in front of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’ s private residence was not against the CM, reported news agency ANI.
“In fact, I had invited the Chief Minister to join me in chanting the Hanuman Chalisa,” she wrote further.
She alleged that under Uddhav Thackeray, the Shiv Sena has “completely strayed from its avowed Hindutva principles” so that it could form a coalition with Congress and NCP.
“I, with the sincere hope to rekindle the flame of Hindutva in Shiv Sena, had declared that I shall go to the residence of the Chief Minister and chant the “Hanuman Chalisa” outside his residence. This was not meant to incite any religious tensions,” read the letter by an independent MP from Amravati.
Amravati MP Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana were arrested from their Khar residence in Mumbai after they cancelled recitation of Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s private residence ‘Matoshree’.
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In her letter she alleged that her “several and repeated demands” for drinking water were turned down because she belonged to Scheduled Caste. “To my shock & disbelief, the police staff present told me that I belong to Scheduled Caste & hence they will not give me water in the same glass. Thus, I was directly abused on the basis of my caste and it is only for this reason that no drinking water was provided,” she wrote, reported the news agency.
She further alleged that police paid no heed to her request to use a bathroom and was “abused in the most filthy language.”
“I was told that we don’t let people from Neechi Zaat Scheduled Castes use our bathrooms,” Navneet wrote in her letter.
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The couple was produced before Bandra Magistrate Court on Sunday after which they were sent to 14 days of judicial custody. The Magistrate court had dismissed the plea for police remand and will hear bail application of Navneet Rana on April 29.
The couple was booked under the Indian Penal Code section 153 (A) (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), and section 135 of the Mumbai Police Act (violation of prohibitory orders of police), news agency PTI had reported.