In a tweet, Prashant Bhushan had called Krishna a "legendary eve-teaser".
Lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan has deleted a tweet on Lord Krishna and anti-Romeo squads in Uttar Pradesh that led to a storm on social media. Mr Bhushan was lacerated by many who accused him of insulting the god.
In the now-deleted tweet on Sunday criticising UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's anti-Romeo teams to prevent harassment of women, Mr Bhushan had called Krishna a "legendary eve-teaser".
Loud protests followed with religious groups demanding an apology and more than one police complaint being filed against the activist.
The Anti-Romeo Squads, a BJP poll promise that was among the first steps taken by Yogi Adityanath, have been controversial in the past few days as TV visuals showed young men subjected to on-the-spot penalties like tonsuring, sit-ups and other forms of humiliation. Mandated to go after men who harass and stalk women, the police teams appeared to hound any lone straggler and even couples in parks and coffee shops.
In his tweet, Mr Bhushan had questioned the use of Romeo - who loved only one woman - to describe harassers.
"It takes several births to understand the Lord Krishna. It is sad how easily he got dragged into politics," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra tweeted.