Mallikarjun Kharge, the head of the Congress, has been summoned to court in Punjab over accusations that his party promised to ban the Bajrang Dal in Karnataka. This comes after Hitesh Bhardwaj, the founder of Hindu Suraksha Parishad, filed a defamation case against Kharge for making defamatory remarks against the Bajrang Dal during the Karnataka elections. Bhardwaj claims that the Congress compared the Bajrang Dal to organizations like SIMI and Al-Qaeda in its platform for Karnataka.
The Congress party promised to ban organizations like PFI and Bajrang Dal in its election manifesto for the Karnataka Assembly Elections. It pledged to take strong action against organizations like Bajrang Dal that promote animosity among different communities and to protect minorities from communal violence and false cases. However, the promise was criticized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP members.
The Congress clarified that it had no intention of banning the Bajrang Dal and that decisions regarding such organizations were made by the national government. The case is ongoing, and Kharge has been summoned to appear in court in Punjab.
