Politicians and controversies are not new to us, but these days the intolerance has grown to a level that ruling party leaders started restoring to violence. Recently, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bihar Chief Nityanand Rai issued a statement threatening to all dissenters of Modi, stating that the ‘fingers or hands raised’ against the Prime Minister will be ‘broken or chopped off’. Rai is unfazed by criticism of the apparent threat. ‘Only those who are anti-national and anti-poor will object to the statement.’ The comment comes close to a huge hullabaloo over a BJP leader in Haryana, Surajpal Amu, announcing a bounty of Rs 10 crore for the heads of actor Deepika Padukone and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali in the middle of Rajput protests against their film Padmavati. Another example is Anurag Thakur, he called Sonia Gandhi a witch and accused her of many things but later on he denied saying that the account is fake and he has no idea about the post.
But this is not the first time the party has been left red faced due to vicious, offensive and venomous statements by some of its leaders. Let it be in rallies or in the Parliament, BJP leaders always let lose their tongue. Moreover, social media had its fair share of fun. Whatever comments minsters make, there is one section that is of their supporters and another section is of opponents. Within no times things go viral. How can we forget BJP’s UP vice president’s remark comparing BSP supremo Mayawati to a ‘prostitute’ that did not go down too well with the BJP, which immediately sacked the leader. But his wife was not only given seat but she is one of the cabinet ministers in UP government. Sakshi Maharaj also courted his fair share of controversies. For him Gandhi’s assassin, Nathuram Godse was a ‘patriot and martyr’. During a rally in Meerut in 2015, he asked Hindu women to produce ‘at least four children’ to ‘protect’ Hinduism. Defending Ghar Wapsi, he had also argued for death sentence for anybody indulging in cow slaughter or religious conversion.
Remember, Yogi Adityanath saying that Shah Rukh Khan should remember that if a huge mass in society would boycott his films, he would also have to wander on streets like a normal Muslim. He also called the actor a terrorist. These comments came at a time when the ‘intolerance’ debate had gripped the country in November 2015.
Sadhvi Prachi, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader is not directly related to the BJP, but her pro-Hindutva rhetoric has been an embarrassment to the party. She has called for making “India Muslim-free”, announced a reward of Rs 50 lakh to any person “who will behead” Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and wishes to boycott Shah Rukh Khan, for being, well, a Muslim. In the light of Dadri lynching, Prachi openly legitimised “such action” against anybody who consumes beef. She also thinks anybody who does not chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ does not have any right to live in India.
It was at a rally in West Delhi’s Shyam Nagar, that BJP Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti asked voters to choose between ‘Ramzaade’ or ‘Haraamzaade.’
The venomous rhetoric not only embarrassed the BJP, it was indicative of how easily a leader can get away with deeply disturbing polarised hate speeches.
In August 2015, she also urged Hindu women to never ‘marry out of their community’ as it disrupts religious ‘equilibrium.’ Giriraj Singh is a prominent BJP face in Bihar. But he created quite a storm when he called Modi’s detractors Pakistanis. “Those who want to stop BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will soon have no place in India…because their place will be in Pakistan.” Babulal Gaur and his (obnoxious) understanding of rape came into light when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was discussing the discourse of women’s safety at Red Fort on Independence Day. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Babulal Gaur was enlightening people with his warped understanding or rape. For Gaur, rape is a social crime that is “sometimes right, sometimes wrong.” He also believes a government cannot ensure women’s safety or whether they get raped.
The talk of leaders and vicious remarks will be incomplete without mentioning BJP’s parent organisation RSS’ chief Mohan Bhagwat. Bhagwat feels India is a Hindu nation and Hindutva is its identity. “Hindustan is a Hindu nation.”
Hereafter we will call this kind of member parliamentarians as member of butchers. Let him understand there are several leaders rose from even from the worst levels than PM. BJP, which has only 10 MLAs in the House of 147 members, however, expects 120 MLAs in the next general elections in 2019. Will BJP National President Amit Shah’s calculations come true if BJP ignores the interest of the people? BJP claims that it has been fighting for the people of the state, but it needs to prove its credibility. For BJP or any other political party, things are not that easy as the saffron brigade believes. One has to win the confidence of the people before getting their votes. Naveen Patnaik has done it to certain extent by introducing cheap rice and several pro-people schemes.
A group of leaders in the state have landed the saffron party in trouble for not having adequate field experience in reading the people’s pulse. BJP leaders need to understand people’s perception, which is very important. When saffron brigade is out to dislodge a deeply rooted faith in PM, their distance from peoples’ cause will turn a stumbling block to achieving their goal.
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