Union Minister Giriraj Singh, while speaking at Bihar’s Purnia on Wednesday, 19 February, stoked yet another controversy with his statement that Muslims should have been sent to Pakistan in 1947.
"It is the time to commit ourselves to the nation. Before 1947, (Muhammad Ali) Jinnah pushed for an Islamic nation. It was a big lapse by our ancestors and we're paying the price for that. If at that time, Muslim brothers had been sent there and Hindus brought here, we wouldn't be in this situation. If Bharatvanshis don't get shelter here where will they go?" Bihar MP Singh said.
Singh’s comments come against the backdrop of nationwide protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
He further said that “illegal Muslims and Rohingyas” should leave the country and that they have no right to stay there.
On 16 February, just three days before his Bihar speech, BJP chief JP Nadda had summoned Singh and cautioned him against making such remarks after he described Islamic seminary in Deoband as the “Gangotri of terrorism”.
Attacking the Opposition over the CAA, Singh said, “In Pakistan, will Muslims face religious persecution? In India, will the majority face persecution? If they have the courage, they should openly say that illegal immigrants from Pakistan should be given citizenship, Rohingyas should also be given citizenship and Bangladeshis should also be given.”
Giriraj Singh is not the only BJP leader to deliver hate speech. Union Minister Anurag Thakur sparked a controversy after he incited a crowd of supporters to raise slogans asking them to “gun down traitors” at an election rally, in the run-up to the recently concluded Delhi Assembly elections.
While some Twitter users condemned the Union Minister’s remarks, others questioned what action the BJP would initiate against him for the hate speech.
(With inputs from NDTV)
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