Navneet Rana is a Dalit, sedition case against her was `political vendetta`: Union Min Ramdas Athawale

Athawale, who met the Rana couple in Delhi days after their release on bail from Mumbai jail in the sedition case, demanded a probe into their arrest, reported PTI.

New Delhi: Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Tuesday said that Amravati MP Navneet Rana, who was booked for sedition along with her MLA husband after she triggered the Hanuman Chalisa row in Maharashtra, is a Dalit leader and injustice was meted out to her by the MVA government out of "vendetta politics", reported PTI.

Athawale, who went to meet the Rana couple in Delhi days after their release on bail from Mumbai jail in the sedition case, while speaking to the media demanded a probe into the entire episode.

“Ranas have faced injustice. Navneet Rana is an elected MP. The action taken against her with revenge is very serious. Navneet Rana belongs to our Dalit community. Injustice was meted out to her. I condemn the injustice on behalf of the RPI. Action should be taken against the police for committing the injustice,” Athawale said.

“Ranas only wanted to recite 'Hanuman Chalisa' outside Thackeray's private residence 'Matoshree' with the intention that various issues plaguing the state will be resolved through the divine invocation. There was no need to register a sedition case against them as they did not stage a protest, but had only announced in that regard (Ranas later withdrew their plan to chant Hanuman Chalisa),” Athawale told PTI.

“To put them in jail under the sedition charge is a blot on democracy,” he alleged.

The leader further alleged that residences of the Ranas in Amravati and suburban Khar in Mumbai were pelted with stones.

He also questioned the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) move to issue a notice to the Khar housing society, where the Ranas own a flat for alleged illegal alterations and accused the civic body of acting with vengeance.

About the sedition case, protests had erupted after the Ranas announced to recite Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray's private residence in Mumbai last month. They were subsequently arrested amid angry protests by Shiv Sainiks on the charge of promoting enmity. Later the sedition charge was also added.

The couple walked out of jail on May 5, a day after a Mumbai court granted them bail.

(With PTI inputs)