Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge was summoned by a Punjab state court on Monday in an INR 1,000 million ($12,144,840) party-related defamation case for equating the banned Islamic group Popular Front of India (PFI) with Bajrang Dal.
Kharge was summoned by the Sangrur district court after Hitesh Bhardwaj, president of a Hindu group named “Bajrang Dal Hindustan” filed a complaint.
Bhardwaj in his petition accused India's main opposition party, Congress, of comparing Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of Hindu organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), with anti-national organisations, like SIMI* and al-Qaeda*.
The controversy over the Congress manifesto erupted during the recently concluded Karnataka state assembly polls.
In its manifesto called ‘Sarva Janangada Shanthiya Thota’ (peaceful garden of all communities), the party had said: “The Congress party is committed to take firm and decisive action against individuals and organisations spreading hatred amongst communities on grounds of caste or religion."
"We believe that law and Constitution is sacrosanct and cannot be violated by individuals and Organisations like Bajrang Dal, PFI or others promoting enmity or hatred, whether among majority or minority communities,” it added.
It further stated that if voted into power in the state, the party would take “decisive action” according to the law, including imposing a ban on them.
The vow made by the country’s main opposition party was harshly criticised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as several Hindu groups.
However, Congress clarified that it had "no proposal to ban the Bajrang Dal" because banning an organisation like it comes under the federal government's purview.
Despite the controversy over its manifesto, Congress registered an emphatic win in the Karnataka state assembly polls.
It won 135 of the total 224 Assembly seats, while the BJP and the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) secured 66 and 19 seats, respectively.
* banned terror groups