Bajrang Dal 'renames' Gujarat Cong office as 'Haj House'

Some workers of the Bajrang Dal, a right wing outfit, stuck posters on the building of the Congress state headquarters here early on Friday, which read that the party office has been 'renamed' as 'Haj House'.

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), a sister organisation of the Bajrang Dal, said its workers carried out the act to register their protest against Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor's recent statement regarding minorities.

Thakor, while addressing party workers on Wednesday, had endorsed former prime minister Manmohan Singh's views that minorities must have the first claim on the resources of the country and said the Congress will not deviate from this ideology even if it faces defeat in elections.

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi condemned the Bajrang Dal's 'attack' on the party's state unit headquarters -- Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan -- located in Paldi area of Ahmedabad, saying these youths are 'disillusioned'.

He also accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of sponsoring 'hooliganism'.

A video shared by the VHP shows the protesters also writing 'Haj House' on the walls of the party office using spray colours and defacing the photos of various Congress leaders on the banners put up in the premises.

"Gujarat Congress president had said that minorities have the first claim on the country's resources. This party talks about secularism and equality on the one hand and then indulges into appeasement politics for votes.

"We are against this religion-centric politics because it creates divisions in the society. This country belongs to all the 135 crore citizens," Gujarat VHP spokesperson Hitendrasinh Rajput said.

"To register our protest, nearly 20 Bajrang Dal activists renamed the state Congress headquarters as 'Haj House' by pasting posters in and outside the building early in the morning. Since the main door was locked, we pasted a poster on the main door also, declaring that Thakor has renamed the building as 'Haj House'," he said.

Since it was done at around 5 am, nobody except a security guard was present at the party office, Rajput added.

Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said the party is planning to lodge a complaint of trespassing against the protesters.

"These activists were sent by the ruling BJP to create an issue out of a non-issue. This is hooliganism by BJP-sponsored people. These activists are disillusioned. Why did they not throw black ink on the faces of BJP ministers for the mismanagement during COVID-19 or when the question papers of competitive exams got leaked?" asked Doshi.