Amid row over Lord Hanuman's identity, Uttar Pradesh's sports minister and former cricketer Chetan Chauhan has said that the Hindu deity was a sportsperson.
However, he dismissed his party colleagues' attempts at identifying Lord Hanuman's caste and said gods don't have castes.
"Hanumanji was a devta, a god and I consider him as god and I worship him.. I am a sportsman and all sportsmen worship power... Humunanji was a symbol of power and strength... He also used to do wrestling and was a sportsman... all wrestlers worship him," Chauhan said in Amroha Sunday.
He added, "There is no caste of gods and saints.. Similarly for me Hanumanji is a god... I do not want to divide him on caste lines."