Tit-For-Tat: Now NCP Leader Wants To Read Namaz, Hanuman Chalisa Outside PM's Residence

Days after the MP-MLA couple from Maharashtra got arrested over the face-off with CM Uddhav Thackeray on reciting Hanuman Chalisa outside his private residence in Mumbai, Fahmida Hasan Khan, a leader from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has hit out at the BJP. She has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking permission to read Namaz, Hanuman Chalisa, Durga Chalisa, Namokar Mantra and more outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official residence at Delhi's Lok Kalyan Marg. She claims she recites Hanuman Chalisa and does Durga Puja at her home.

"But the way inflation and unemployment are increasing in the country, it has become necessary to wake up the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi... if Ravi Rana and Navneet Rana can enjoy the benefit of reading Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree [Uddhav Thackeray's residence], we should be allowed to go to PM Modi's residence in Delhi to offer Namaz, Hanuman Chalisa and Durga Chalisa," she was quoted as saying by NDTV.

She said, "it can't go on like this. No one is talking about the real issues. Prices are increasing, unemployment is rising, the GDP growth is slowing. These stunts are done by the central government to divert the attention of the people." 

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police have shifted independent MP Navneet Rana to the Byculla women's jail here, while her MLA husband Ravi Rana was taken to Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai amid tight security, an official said on Monday.

The couple was arrested on Saturday after they gave a call for the chanting of Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's private residence 'Matoshree' in Mumbai, which had triggered angry protests by Shiv Sainiks.

The Mumbai Police later slapped the sedition charge on the politician couple. On Sunday, a Mumbai court remanded the Rana couple in 14-day judicial custody.

Subsequently, Navneet Rana, the MP from Amravati in Maharashtra, was late Sunday night taken to the Byculla women's jail. Her husband Ravi Rana, the MLA from Badnera in Amravati, was first taken to the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai, but due to lack of adequate space there, he was taken to the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai after completion of the legal formalities, the official said.

Earlier, a case was registered against Ranas under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections 37(1) and 135 of the Bombay Police Act.