A Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader was allegedly shot by a man following an argument in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad on Saturday, reported The Times of India.
The accused man, Rajat Sharma, is reportedly a Bharatiya Janata Party member. Sharma had taken part in a protest against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Febraury 8 and allegedly made derogatory remarks about him.
VHP leader Santosh Pandit had demanded that Sharma be sacked for his “step against the party leadership”, sharing social media posts in support of his demand, according to the newspaper. On Saturday evening, Pandit and Sharma got into an argument, leading to the VHP leader being shot.
“In his statement, he [Pandit] claimed that one Rajat Sharma had opened fire on him,” said Senior Moradabad Superintendent of Police Hemraj Meena, reported The Indian Express. “Both Sharma and Pandit knew each other and the accused attacked the latter after an argument over some issue. Sharma had opened fire with a country-made pistol and he is currently absconding.”
The police official said that Pandit was undergoing emergency care, but that the bullet did not damage any vital organs.
The VHP’s western Uttar Pradesh area minister Raj Kamal Gupta confirmed that Pandit is an active worker of the organisation but denied that Sharma was associated with the outfit.
The protest against Bhagwat was held by an organisation named the Akhil Bhartiya Brahman Mahasabha, reported Navbharat Times. The organisation was demonstrating against Bhagwat’s for this statement on February 5 that Pandits, a common term used to refer to the Brahmin community, had created the caste system, according to The Hindu.
In his speech, the RSS chief had also said that what Pandits said on the basis of shastras, or scriptures, was a lie.
As the statements drew criticism, RSS’ publicity chief Sunil Ambekar had claimed on February 6 that Bhagwat’s remarks have been misconstrued and that by Pandits he had meant vidvaan, or intellectuals.
“He was speaking in Marathi and what he said should be understood in [the] right manner,” Ambekar added.
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