In its 2023 manifesto, the party had promised to take “firm and decisive” action against individuals and organisations spreading hatred among communities on grounds of caste or religion, including the Bajrang Dal.
Published Jan 07, 2026 | 5:30 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 07, 2026 | 5:30 PM
Soon after the release of its manifesto in the run-up to the polls, the promise invited sharp criticism from the then ruling BJP.
Synopsis: A Mumbai court has asked the Maharashtra police to probe whether the Congress’s 2023 Karnataka election manifesto promise of “decisive action” against the Bajrang Dal was defamatory, following a complaint by a Mumbai-based activist. Legal experts say the promise does not constitute defamation, as the law applies to imputations about existing facts, not future actions. Notably, the Congress has yet to make any progress on the promise.
Well over two years after the Congress, in its pre-poll manifesto ahead of the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, promised action against the Bajrang Dal—the militant youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad—a Magistrate Court in Mumbai has directed the Maharashtra police to probe whether the promise was defamatory.
The order follows a complaint filed by a Mumbai-based Bajrang Dal activist, who argued that the Congress intentionally maligned the reputation of the Sangh-affiliated outfit by equating it with the proscribed Popular Front of India (PFI).
The manifesto in question had promised to take “firm and decisive” action against individuals and organisations spreading hatred among communities on grounds of caste or religion, including the Bajrang Dal.
“We believe that law and the Constitution are sacrosanct and cannot be violated by individuals and organisations like Bajrang Dal, PFI or others promoting enmity or hatred, whether among majority or minority communities,” it reads.
But the complainant contended that since only the Union Government has the authority to ban an organisation under Section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Congress’s promise amounted to a “false claim” and a “defamatory imputation”.
He had, thus, sought that the court take cognisance of the complaint and issue a “deterrent process”.
Legal experts say the allegations hold little water and that a mere statement in a party’s manifesto is insufficient to impugn the party or attract legal culpability.
Section 499 of the IPC and now Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita define defamation in terms of making an imputation concerning a person’s reputation which is intended to harm, or is likely to harm, it.
That necessarily implies an assertion about an existing fact, not a mere prediction. The statutory text itself focuses on harm to reputation, which arises from present or ongoing imputations, not speculative future conduct.
“Only those facts which are existing facts can amount to defamation, not that the party is claiming that they will take action against the group for promoting hatred or enmity,” Sivamanithan S, a legal academic and practitioner, told South First.
While such an exemption is not specifically spelt out in defamation laws, it is believed to be an established interpretation of the law, experts said.
However, the complainant’s second contention that the power to ban an organisation vests only with the Central government, and not with state governments, does have legal grounding, experts noted.
This could prove to be an impediment for the Karnataka government if it chooses to pursue any action against the Bajrang Dal.
While some states have attempted to declare organisations unlawful under other statutes, such actions do not amount to a UAPA ban and have often been vulnerable to judicial review.
In 2018 and 2020, the BJP in Karnataka raised calls for a ban on the PFI for being involved in “anti-national” activities and violence. In 2018, in Jharkhand, the then BJP government banned the PFI, saying some of its members were influenced by the ISIS.
The state government imposed the ban under Section 16 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1908, which gives states the power to declare an association ‘unlawful’ if it interferes with the administration of law or the maintenance of law and order, or if it constitutes a danger to public peace.
However, the Jharkhand High Court revoked the ban, noting that the state had not followed due procedure before announcing it.
In September 2022, the Centre banned the PFI and its affiliates for “pursuing a secret agenda to radicalise a particular section of the society, working towards undermining the concept of democracy and showing sheer disrespect towards the constitutional authority and constitutional set up of the country.”
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The Congress has completed two and a half years in office in Karnataka since winning the 2023 Assembly elections in a landslide, but has yet to make any progress on its stated promise of action against the Bajrang Dal.
Soon after the release of its manifesto in the run-up to the polls, the promise invited sharp criticism from the then ruling BJP. Leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accused the party of “locking up Lord Hanuman, just as it had locked up Lord Sri Rama earlier.”
“First they [Congress] locked up Lord Rama and now they have vowed to lock up those who chant ‘Jai Bajrang Bali’,” Modi said in 2023 during a campaign rally in Vijayanagara. He ended several election speeches by chanting “Jai Bajrang Bali”.
The then BJP Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai claimed that any move to ban the Bajrang Dal would prove “costly” to the Congress and that the party would be ousted from the country if devotees of Lord Hanuman revolt.
Soon after, Congress leader and former Chief Minister M Veerappa Moily clarified that there was no proposal within the party to ban the Bajrang Dal. Banning organisations falls within the domain of the Central government, and not state governments, Moily reiterated at press conferences.
Over the last two years, several Bajrang Dal activists have been charged and arrested in cases of moral policing. In one such incident in 2023, three boys were beaten up for being with their female friends of a different faith on Mangaluru’s Someshwara beach.
Several Bajrang Dal activists were arrested in connection with the incident. In the same month, Home Minister G Parameshwara told reporters that the party had said that “Bajrang Dal will be banned only if it disrupts peace.”
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
