''Lord Hanuman now has a new caste, this time he is a Jat''

Tribune Web Service
Chandigarh, December 21

The debate over Lord Hanuman continued on Friday, with Uttar Pradesh minister Chaudhary Lakshmi Narayan claiming that the Hindu deity belonged to the Jat community.

Explaining the rationale behind his statement, Chaudhary said, "Lord Ram's wife, goddess Sita, was abducted by Ravan, but Lanka was burnt by Hanumanji. It's injustice being done to someone by someone and the third person does not know either of them. This is the nature of Jats...they intervene whenever any injustice is done to anybody."

Narayan’s statement comes a day after Samajwadi Party-turned-BJP MLC Bhukkal Nawab declared him to be a Muslim.

Speaking to a news channel, Nawab had argued that Lord Hanuman was a Muslim as his name rhymed with names such as Salman, Zeeshan, Qurban, Suleman, Furqaan, Farman, Rahman, Ramzaan, etc.

“Can my Hindu brothers claim any other name, which rhymes with Hanuman? People do name their children Hanuman but there are no similar sounding names in Hinduism while there are so many such names in Islam,” he had contended.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had also kicked up a controversy during election campaign in Alwar (Rajasthan) recently when he claimed that Lord Hanuman was a Dalit.