Days after a legal notice was served to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for claiming that Lord Hanuman was a Dalit, the Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NSCT), Nand Kumar Sai on Friday said that Lord Hanuman belonged to a tribal group.
"Lord Rama's army consisted of monkeys, vultures and bears, there are various tribal groups in our country and I feel Hanuman belonged to one of them and he used to live in the forest," stated Nand Kumar Sai.
"This is why even Ram was called vanvasi Ram and his army was recognized as vanar sena, which means they all were forest dwellers," he added.
During a poll rally in Malakheda of Rajasthan's Alwar district on Tuesday, Adityanath said: "Bajrang Bali was a tribal, a forest dweller, a Dalit and was deprived. He worked to connect all Indian communities together, from north to south and east to west." He added that those who are Ram Bhakts would vote for the BJP while those who worship Ravana would vote for the Congress.
The statement drew strong criticism from the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defended Adityanath. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Thursday alleged that the Chief Minister was playing politics over god.
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