Bhopal, Jun 6 (PTI) A Congress legislator from Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday claimed that Lord Shiva was a tribal who drank poison to save the world.

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The legislator, Arjun Singh Kakodiya, was speaking in his constituency Barghat in Seoni district. A month ago, he had claimed that Bajrangbali, or Lord Hanuman, was a tribal.

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Assembly elections in MP, which is currently being governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are due by the year-end.

“Nectar came out of manthan (churning). Smart people drank nectar and poison was left behind. What to do with that poison? Who drank that poison? Bhole Bhandari (Lord Shiva) who lives in the Himalayas drank it,” he said.

The legislator went on to say that tribals are called Bhole Bhandari. “The tribals gave life to the world by drinking the poison. Our society is so glorious. All these people came out of us, that's why we respect all of them,” he said.

Last month, he had said that Bajrangbali was a tribal forest dweller who protected Lord Ram and helped him.

“There was no Ayodhya, Kshatriya or Brahmin sena but (it was) the tribal community (that) helped Lord Ram,” Kakodiya had said while addressing a public meeting in the presence of MP Congress president Kamal Nath in Udepani village.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)