Bhopal:
Members of right-wing groups demanded the release of Kalicharan Maharaj, a religious leader from Maharashtra who is in jail in Chhattisgarh for abusing Mahatma Gandhi and glorifying his assassin Nathuram Godse. A Bajrang Sena leader claimed that Kalicharan did nothing wrong and only said what “everybody knows”.
“He (Kalicharan Maharaj) only said what is true. Everyone knows. What did Gandhi do anyway? If freedom could be achieved only by spinning the spinning wheel, everyone would have done so. Bhagat Singh’s sacrifice brought freedom No one got freedom by changing the spinning wheel, said Sandeep Kushwaha of the local Bajrang Sena unit.
The right-wing members had gone to the commissioner’s office to submit a memorandum.
The memorandum, addressed to President of India Ram Nath Kovind and Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra, demanded registration of sedition case against Congress’s Digvijay Singh and AIMIM’s Mani Shankar Aiyar and Asaduddin Owaisi and release of Kalicharan.
Right-wing members alleged that the three political leaders always insult Hinduism.
They protested in front of the Gandhi statue in central Indore, raised slogans against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and hailed Nathuram Godse.
Kalicharan Maharaj was arrested from Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh earlier this week and charged with sedition for his controversial speech at a religious gathering in Madhya Pradesh’s capital Raipur.
In the video of his speech, which was widely circulated, Kalicharan Maharaj is heard declaring that the aim of Islam is to take over the nation through politics.
“Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi destroyed the country… Salute to Nathuram Godse, who killed him,” he is also heard saying.
His speech was strongly opposed by the program’s chief patron Mahant Ramsunder Das, who left the stage.
Narottam Mishra later alleged that the Chhattisgarh Police violated the inter-state protocol by arresting Kalicharan from the state without informing the local police.
Kalicharan Maharaj’s comments also created a stir in the Maharashtra Assembly, where the Shiv Sena-led government assured strict action against him.
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