Jaipur: The Jaipur police on Saturday (April 26) registered an FIR against Balmukundacharya alias Sanjay Sharma, the BJP MLA from Hawa Mahal constituency for allegedly leading a large crowd, assembling before the Jama Masjid in Jaipur’s Johari Bazaar and raising religious slogans, ostensibly to protest against the Pahalgam attack.
After the FIR was registered, the BJP MLA issued a video statement expressing “regret” saying that it was not his intention to hurt religious feelings of any community.
According to the FIR, the incident took place on Friday (April 25) night. Earlier, on Friday evening, an “Aakrosh Sabha” was held in Badi Chaupar inside the walled city to protest against the recent killing of 26 tourists in Kashmir’s Pahalgam.
Several BJP leaders including Balmukundacharya had participated in the massive protest, held at the centre of Jaipur, just adjacent to the iconic Hawa Mahal.
Those who attended the protest raised slogans such as “Pakistan Murdabad”, “Jai Shree Ram” and held up saffron flags and torches to express their anger.
“We have two Hanumans of Bharat. One is Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, another is Amit Shah ji. In logon ko chun chun kar Jannat ke darwaze mein bheja jaega…(These people will be sent to the gates of heaven one by one),” Balmukundacharya told reporters, adding that the terrorists who asked people their religions before killing them will also be identified.
‘Jai Shree Ram’ slogans outside mosque, FIR against MLA
After the Aakrosh Sabha concluded, Balmukundacharya allegedly led a crowd and assembled outside the Jama Masjid in Johari Bazaar.
“As namaz was being offered inside the mosque, Balmukundacharya, the MLA from the Hawa Mahal constituency entered the Jama Masjid with his 60-70 people of criminal nature and raised religious slogans to create communal tension between two religions and incite riots,” says the FIR registered in the case on the basis of the complaint of Mohammed Shabbir Qureshi, the Sadar of the Jama Masjid.
In videos circulated in social media, a large crowd is allegedly seen chanting slogans such as “Jai Shree Ram” in front of the Jama Masjid.
The FIR says that the crowd also threatened to kill Muslims.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.