Bajrang Dal appeals for removal of R Ashoka as Leader of Opposition

Mangaluru: Bajrang Dal has appealed to BJP state president B. Y. Vijayendra to remove R. Ashoka from the position of Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

A delegation led by Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Sharan Pumpwell met with Vijayendra and submitted a request that Ashoka’s remarks in the state legislature had hurt the sentiments of the Bajrang Dal activists saying that he had invoked the Goonda Act against the Bajrang Dal workers. For this, he should be immediately removed from the position of the Opposition leader, the appeal said.

Ashoka should immediately apologize to the Hindu activists in the state, the appeal added.

R Ashoka during an Assembly debate on the issue of the alleged disparaging remarks against Hinduism by teachers in a private school in Mangaluru had made a reference to the 2009 Mangaluru Pub Attack.

Ashoka drew the ire of Bajrang Dal members for stating, “I had invoked the Goonda Act against the Bajrang Dal workers”.

“When I was Home Minister there was pressure on me too, I never looked back. Goonda Act had been imposed on all of them. You should take a bold stand like that,” he had told the Assembly.

This statement stirred considerable outrage, with Bajrang Dal leader Puneeth Attavar dubbing Ashoka as “Adjustment Ashok” on social media.

The incident Ashok referred to dates back to January 24, 2009, when Sri Ram Sena activists garnered national attention for attacking and assaulting a group of young men and women at a pub in Mangaluru.