Pics: Spoorthy Ullal

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)

Mangaluru, Jan 7: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal staged a protest at DC office here in the city on Monday, January 7, against Kannada scholar Prof Bhagwan for derogatory remarks on Sri Ram in his book 'Rama Mandira Yeke Beda' and demanded his arrest.

Addressing the protestors, Bajrang Dal leader, Sharan Pumpwell said, "Lord Ram is the leader of this world and we believe in him. Prof Bhagwan has gone mad to make such derogatory remarks in his book. Government has no courage to arrest Prof Bhagwan. Instead, they are protecting him by giving more security,"

"The former chief minister Siddaramaiah and present CM Kumaraswamy are the same. When Siddaramaiah was the chief minister, Prof Bhagwan had made derogatory remarks against Lord Ram but he was not arrested. We demand the withdrawal of police security given to Prof Bhagwan and urge to arrest him immediately," said Sharan Pumpwell.

Regarding the matter of missing of fishermen of Malpe, Sharan Pumpwell said, "It has been 22 days since the seven fishermen are missing in the deep sea. The government has failed to trace them. If the fishermen were from the Muslim community, then chief minister Kumaraswamy, home minister M B Patil, district in-charge minister U T Khader would have been in Malpe by now and got them traced. They did not even pay visit to the fishermen's residences till now,"

"When Suvarna news channel anchor Ajith made a statement about Mohammed Paigambar, a complaint was registered at Pandeshwar police station despite the anchor speaking at Bengaluru studio. But when we went to register complaint against Prof Bhagwan, several reasons were given not to register FIR," added Pumpwell.

Sharan further said, "An eight-year-old girl was sexually harassed by a mobile shop owner named Salim at Mani. Even after one week of the incident, the arrest was not made because he belonged to Muslim community. So we demand new SP Lakshmi Prasad to arrest Salim within a week or else we will protest against it at Mani,"

VHP district secretary Shivanand Mendon said, "We worship Lord Ram and this is our faith. We have been taught by our parents about Lord Ram and Sita. Prof Bhagwan had the guts to make derogatory remarks in his book about Lord Ram and he has ego of that he is a writer. He has the courage to speak and but does not have the courage to face the public. So he has taken police security." 

"Prof Bhagwan has written the book titled 'Rama Mandira Yeke Beda' in which he has written that Lord Ram consumed meat, liquor and there are many such derogatory remarks about Ram. Prof Bhagwan is an anti-Hindu. Instead of arresting him, the government is safeguarding him by providing security. We demand Prof Bhagwan's arrest and ban on the publisher. We also demand Sapna Book store to stop selling the book of Bhagwan that has derogatory remarks about Sri Ram," added Shivanand Mendon.

Regional convener Vidya Mallya said, "People like Prof Bhagwan keep on saying that there is intolerance. But we Hindus will stand together and will show what intolerance is and Prof Bhagwan can survive nowhere in the world. Prof Bhagwan needs mental treatment and needs to be admitted into NIMHANS. The expenditure which is being spent for his security has to be spent for his treatment at NIMHANS."