Troubles seem to have no end for singer-composer Vishal Dadlani. After he quit politics on Monday, two police complaints have been lodged against him — one at the Shahdara police station of Delhi and one at the Chembur police station of Mumbai for hurting religious sentiments of the Jain community.
Dadlani on Monday quit all political activities in light of the Twitter backlash over his "some naked monk" comments on Jain religious leader Tarun Sagar, who belongs to the Digambar sect of the religion and does not wear clothes. Vishal has been an activist for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Of the two police complaints, the first was filed by an organisation, called Jain Life, with the Shahdara police station in New Delhi. In the written complaint, Jain Life President, Vipin Jain had said both Vishal and political observer Tehseen Poonawala had hurt the sentiments of Jains, and had demanded their immediate arrest.
The second complaint was also registered against the two, this time at the Chembur police station in Mumbai. The complaint, filed by four people, reads: "Poonawala and Dadlani have, on social networking site Twitter, posted derogatory comments about Jain monk Tarun Sagar. Saints of Digambar sect of Jainism don't wear clothes as part of their religious practice and both of them have targeted the Jain communities' religious beliefs in their tweets and thus have deeply hurt their religious sentiments."
Meanwhile, Tarun Sagar has said on the incident: "I don't think he knows anything about Jainism or our beliefs. Also, the question of apology doesn't arise because I am not angry with him in the first place." He had said on Sunday: "He has the right to differ and criticise. I don't care what people say about me."
It may be noted that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Cabinet Minister Satyendar Jain had distanced themselves from the Vishal's tweets, because the AAP is looking to do well in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections. The party leadership believed that Vishal's remarks could antagonise the considerable Jain population there and hamper their chances of scoring big in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state.
