Days after the Delhi election results were announced, where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) scored a resounding win over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with 62 out of 70 seats, the saffron party's state president Manoj Tiwari has said that "people who give hate speech should be permanently removed."
He made the comments in an interview to The Indian Express when questioned about the conduct of BJP leader Kapil Mishra, but added that everyone across party lines should be inspected, including AAP's Amanatullah Khan and AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi.
"When he (Kapil Mishra) raised (the slogan of 'desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maro saa**n ko’ it was not brought to my notice, but I want that people who give hate speech should be permanently removed," Tiwari was quoted as saying, as he pitched for a system where people indulge in hate speech lose the legal right to fight polls.
On BJP MP Parvesh Verma "terrorist" jibe at CM Arvind Kejriwal, Tiwari reportedly said, "I have condemned that (speech). And I did that before the elections. The prime minister and home minister have also condemned it. There are provisions in our Constitution to punish gaddars (anti-nationals) and I have full faith in them."
While the state BJP chief agreed that Verma's speech was defended by Union minister Prakash Javadekar at a press conference in his presence, he added, "...Whatever the context, it was hate speech and our party had to face losses due to that. We condemned that speech then as well as today."
The campaigning for the Delhi elections was a vitriolic affair, and witnessed various instances of hate speech, including by BJP leaders Kapil Mishra and Parvesh Verma.
Earlier, Home Minister Amit Shah had admitted that remarks made by BJP leaders may have resulted in the party's defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections.
"Such statements should not have been made. Our party has distanced itself from such remarks," he had told TV channel Times Now.
(With inputs from The Indian Express.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)