New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an oblique reference to the Nagamangala incident on Tuesday said, “Lord Ganesh was put behind bars by these people.”
Without naming the opposition parties and Congress who had questioned the PM’s visit to CJI Chandrachud’s residence for Ganesh Puja, Modi said the Congress ecosystem “is angry” because he participated in the puja. Modi was addressing a public meeting in Odisha after the launch of a welfare scheme piloted by the state government.
“The British, who worked on the policy of 'divide and rule', were irked by the Ganesh Utsav. Today also, the people who are trying to divide and break Indian society are irked by Ganesh Utsav,” Modi said. “The people of Congress and its ecosystem are agitated because I attended Ganpati Poojan.”
Modi’s visit to Chandrachud’s residence during Ganesh Chaturthi Puja led to questions of whether the visit jeopardised the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray) faction leaders like Sanjay Raut demanded that Chandrachud recuse himself from hearing the ongoing case between the two factions of the Shiv Sena – the UBT faction and the Eknath Shinde faction.
Modi also said that in Karnataka, the Congress has “sinned” against Lord Ganesh. “In Karnataka, where they (Congress) are in power, they committed a big sin. They put Lord Ganesh’s idol behind bars. The whole country is disturbed because of those pictures. We cannot let these hateful elements move forward. We have a lot to achieve yet,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister, however, did not mention his visit to the CJI’s house in his speech. He said that the festival offers a platform for people of all castes to come together.
“The Ganesh Chaturthi festival played an important role during the Independence struggle in our country. The British tried to divide us in the name of castes, but Lok Manya Tilak awakened the country by organising Ganesh Utsav. Today, everyone participates in Ganesh Utsav without any discrimination,” Modi said.