Bengaluru: Lok Sabha MP Tejasvi Surya, 29, is once again in the news, this time for a five-year-old tweet where he quoted Tarek Fatah, a Canadian journalist of Pakistani origin who is known to criticise radical Islam, on the repression of women in the Arab world.
Quoting a 2015 interview of Fatah published in Swarajya magazine, where he discussed the expectations of reform in West Asia in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, Surya tweeted on 23 March that year, “95 percent Arab women never had orgasms in last few hundred years: Tarek Fatah.”
The tweet, which also surfaced ahead of Surya’s bid for Parliament last year, went viral this time after several prominent people, including Dubai-based businesswoman Noora Al Ghurair, sought to call him out.
Pity Ur upbringing @Tejasvi_Surya that respect for women couldn’t be instilled in U despite India having some great female leaders .Please note if someday the govt bestows a foreign ministry to you, avoid travelling to Arab lands. You are not welcome here. This will be remembered pic.twitter.com/KJJlqJL5tR
— Noora AlGhurair (@AlGhurair98) April 19, 2020
@PMOIndia Respected Prime minister @narendramodi India's relation with the Arab world has been that of mutual respect. Do you allow your parliamentarian to publicly humiliate our women? We expect your urgent punitive action against @Tejasvi_Surya for his disgraceful comment. pic.twitter.com/emymJrc5aU
— المحامي⚖مجبل الشريكة (@MJALSHRIKA) April 19, 2020
Surya has now deleted the tweet, but it is far from the only brush with controversy for the BJP leader, who is one of India’s youngest MPs.
In the past, Surya, a lawyer by qualification, has described the critics of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) as “puncture wallahs and illiterates”.
Just earlier this year, he took a swipe at the Shaheen Bagh protest against the CAA by saying the Mughal raj would return if the “majority community” was not “vigilant”.
But he has been more or less unflappable through each controversy, making no bones about his support for the cause of Hindutva.
Also Read: How I unlearned my Islamophobia one step at a time
‘An early interest in politics’
Born on 16 November 1990 in Bengaluru, Surya is the son of a retired IAS officer and a schoolteacher. He is a trained Carnatic musician who describes himself as an avid reader, a history enthusiast and a “core believer in Hindutva, the inclusive philosophy that is the core of Bharat since its ancient times”.
While his parents have no political background, Tejasvi is said to have been heavily influenced by his paternal uncle, Basavangudi BJP MLA Ravi Subramanya. As a child, he attended RSS shakhas.
Now a practising lawyer at the Karnataka High Court, Surya served the state BJP in multiple capacities, including as state secretary of the Yuva Morcha and spokesperson, before making the national leap.
His duties today include playing an active role in the BJP’s national social media team. An active member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Surya owns and runs an NGO called Arise India, which works in the field of school education.
He also co-founded the Centre for Entrepreneurial Excellence, an organisation that runs projects related to education and entrepreneurship. In 2017, he was selected by the British High Commission to participate in a “young leadership programme” conducted in the UK.
Friends and associates who have known the young leader since his student days said he had developed an early interest in politics.
“He has always been very focused on achieving something big and making a difference to his country,” said Sandesh Prasannakumar, a former classmate of Surya from his pre-university days.
“Unlike many of us who were carefree during college days, he concentrated on building a career in politics.”
Gagan Nandi, another former classmate, said Surya had “exemplary debating skills and was highly inspired by Swami Vivekananda”.
“The name of his NGO Arise India was inspired by the scholar’s teachings. His parents encouraged him… however, like every other concerned parent, they were wary when he announced his decision to enter politics,” he added. “They were later convinced.”
Surya is quite popular on social media, with nearly 4.9 lakh followers on Twitter as of Monday evening.
Credited for his organisational skills, he was one among the BJP leaders behind the ‘Mangalore Chalo’ rally in September 2017, which saw party members make their way from Bengaluru to Mangaluru to protest against the alleged killing of RSS workers in the Dakshina Kannada region.
“It was through Arise India that he showed his creative skills,” said Gagan. “When the Sri Rama Sene was running a campaign against celebrating Valentine’s Day, Surya said we should celebrate it by saying ‘I love my country’,” Gagan added. “That’s when we knew he would make an effective leader.”
In the Lok Sabha, Surya represents the Bengaluru South constituency, which was a stronghold of former union minister Ananth Kumar until his death in November 2018.
Ahead of the 2019 elections, when the BJP started looking for a candidate for the seat, many thought Kumar’s widow Tejaswini Kumar would be the front runner for the seat.
B.S. Yediyurappa, who was then the state BJP chief, even announced her candidature. But at the last minute, the BJP central leadership handed the nomination to Surya, who won the election with a thumping majority.
Also Read: Hindu, Muslim NRI groups pan ‘escalation of Islamophobia’ in India after Tablighi incident
Brush with controversy
Surya’s brush with controversial statements has continued since before his brush with national politics.
In June 2018, after the BJP lost the Jayanagar assembly bypoll to the Congress, Surya tweeted that it was because of “the complete consolidation of Muslim vote”. He then called on the BJP to “‘really’ become a Hindu party”.
Call me a bigot, communal fanatic or whatever. But singular reason for BJP's defeat in Jayanagar is the complete consolidation of Muslim vote. Look at the below numbers from Gurappanapalya, a Muslim locality.
BJP must 'really' become a Hindu party & not just be perceived as one. pic.twitter.com/oWbtOSbEE1
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) June 13, 2018
In March 2019, he said people who are not with Modi “are strengthening anti-India forces”. The statement created quite an uproar but, when this reporter asked him about the statement, he stood his ground and said he found nothing wrong in it.
All anti-India forces have united to stop Modi. While Modi's agenda is building a new & robust India, their agenda is to stop him. They have no positive agenda.
If you are with Modi, you are with India. If you are not with Modi, then you are strengthening anti-India forces. pic.twitter.com/k0mXzqItrG
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) March 22, 2019
When the Tarek Fatah tweet came into limelight last year ahead of polls, he sought to dismiss the criticism by saying he was merely quoting a statement made by the journalist.
At the height of the anti-CAA protests, Surya addressed a pro-CAA rally at Bengaluru’s Town Hall, where he said it was the “uneducated, illiterate, and puncture-wallahs who were against the CAA”. At the time, he had clarified that his statement was metaphorical and not intended to demean anyone’s profession.
I want everyone, especially my young Muslim friends, to watch real message of my speech.
Unfortunately, Congress & section of agenda driven media does not highlight most important part of my message
But it is our duty to put out real facts & not let manipulative forces win pic.twitter.com/kwGWTl3Im0
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) December 24, 2019
In February, while speaking about the Shaheen Bagh protest, he said the “Mughal raj is not far away if the majority community is not vigilant”.
In a 27 March 2019 tweet, Surya was named by a woman as part of the #MeToo campaign, but she later deleted her tweets and social media account. Surya had refused to comment on the matter, saying he knew the woman and, “as a gentleman, it was his duty to respect her words”.
In March last year, he secured an injunction from a lower court in Karnataka, which prohibited 49 media outlets from publishing “defamatory and derogatory” content about him. However, in April 2019 the Karnataka high court set aside this “gag order”.
He is also opposed to the idea of women’s reservation in Parliament, which was part of the BJP’s manifesto in 2014 and 2019, and made his opposition clear on Twitter.
Also Read: Lockdown may contain Covid-19, but it can’t curb the virus of Islamophobia in India
Same on the print
Neha is absolutely right . Instead of focusing on the topic of female genital mutilation not only in Arab woman but in muslim women of Africa , Bohras in India everybody is talking about offending the sentiments . I can also add that by male circumcision which Islam copied from jewism is equally bad and should be stopped .
So someone who was not getting enuf views, dug his old tweet to create another communal issue. Matlab lockdown mein so vella 😂
There is no doubt this guy tejaswi is an idiot, all these was discussed during elections.
Then y was this article written?? Cause its trending n there is not enough news other than covid??
Stop giving footage to such ppl n playing in the hands of ppl spreading propaganda.
Ye videshi hain kaun hamare desh ke democratically elected MPs ko barkhast karne wale? Especially when Tejaswi Surya was quoting Tarekh Fateh’s interview about Female Genital mutilation in Arab women which makes women physically incapable of having orgasm. Aur ye sikhayenge hamein auran ka samman karna?
Modi should know we Indians know these rabble-rouser hypocrites( who themselves jail and deport people for free speech) and are fully behind him. He should start buying American oil for our strategic reserves while he is at it. It will prevent the US shell companies from going bust and thus making oil price astronomically high after the depression.
If you were really a woman you would have condemned Tejasvi Surya for this statements. And why will Arabs not intervene when Tejasvi Surya addressed them in his tweets.
I too do not find anything wrong with his tweet. As Surya later clarified, he only quoted a Canada based Pakistani journalist, which he might have thought was a true assessment.
This rodent tejaswi Surya must be punished for his dis respectful comments on Arab women’s.
But he is shielded by BJP Modi govt. If our PM has any respect for women, he, tejaswi Surya should be sacked and put behind bars immediately.
What for telling the truth? The percentage may be wrong actual Arab activists and even UN is fighting against female genital mutilation, because they think women having orgasm is haram. This is fact. Ask Ayan Hrsi Ali.
Neha, it that telling truth. If he was so sure of his retweet, why did he delete it. You need to be a man and stay as a man. What has India to do with Arab women’s orgasm. Being a member of parliament, Tejasvi Surya should be careful as he represents the country. There are millions of Indians working in the Arab countries earning their bread and butter living peaceful lives in true Arabic hospitality. Why spoil this relationship with the Arab world which our PM Modi has travelled several times to build relations. The UAE Government has been kind enough even offered land to build a temple. Arab women are highly educated and working in many government and private organizations. Tarek Fateh has to live in Arab World, not give comments from Canada and we Indian need not follow a bigot.
Public representative must be careful when choosing their words. they must be diplomatic.
You are picking a 5 year old tweet and making controversy 🤣🤣 shame on The Print
Shame on you Aman. If a retweet is done on the Indian Government, immediately the person is arrested or hounded. What Tejasvi Surya retweeted is shameful and disgraceful of a member of parliament of India. What kind of venom. is he spewing against Arab women. What have they done to him that he uses that mental Tarek Fateh’s tweet. Tarek is a Pakistani born living in Canada. He has never lived in Arab countries to find out about arab women. Arab women are highly educated and work in all spheres of society. It is a shame to belittle them of their sexuality. I ask Tejasvi if he knows whether his wife reaches orgasm or not before poking at other peoples orgasms.
Tarek and Surya suffer from verbal diarrhoea and need to be treated by putting them in media quarantine so that the world can deal with the present pandemic which is creating havoc in the world and we all must join our Doctor Brothers and our Nurses Sisters at this critical time of the world where our very survival is in question, to fight this dreaded desease than worry about whether the Arab women gets orgams or not. Do these two have any shame and humanity left in them?
Haan ji ye aapke Arab Desh nahi hai, jaha k fiiro ko jail me daal diya jata hain for criticizing I slam. The percentage may be wrong, but actual Arab activists and even UN is fighting against female genital mutilation, because they think women having orgasm is haram. This is fact. Ask Ayan Hrsi Ali. Shame on you de-platforming people trying to shed light on plight of women under Arab theocracies!
No dear
It’s only happens in uppar cast and lower cast people specially in Hindu religion
In Arab we are living peacefully and also enjoy our each and every time
Only because of that cause Hindus are targeting us regularly
Hindus are coming here for job and work as a servent and when they leave this country they blam Arab
Such types of people are born by pros like you
I know
Indian are afraid of sex. So that thay accept brahamacharya 🤣😂😝. And they are taking about orgasm
Have some shame 😝😂🤣🤪😅
Dear theprint, why are you giving free publicity to such people who are just aiming for a career in politics? People like him and Kangana Ranaut know that popularity is a springboard to politics, and the hiring managers in politics like Amit Shah or Ahmed Patel pick up anyone who is popular. And the media seems to be helping generously.
The title of your article is false & misleading and is intended to create controvesy where none exists.
Junior Gijraj Sigh BJP,Tejasvi Surya BJP
Tejasvi Surya BJP MP speech watched in English in lauder / noisy tone using the same words & sentences as per script “HMV” (His Master’s Voice) has quality of praising Modi “Beslauer” (Chaplusi) that Modi made possible, Modi made country on top, Modi made programs for poor & voiceless people, Modi made corruption free India, support Modi Slogans Mata Mata,Hindu Muslim, Pakistan,Gaye Gober, 370 Kashmir against Hunger / Employment, Farmers Sue-sides etc.Tejasvi Surya BJP’s MP with lack of knowledge try to divert debates from the main subject towards communal.
This fellow has gone mad and MUST be locked up in a lunatic asylum for highlighting such quotes IN TIMES OF CRISIS when the entire NATION is going through a very very difficult phase.
AND: This channel / Print media MUST BE CENSURED for spreading RACIAL and RELIGIOUS TENSION and Sentiments, during a time of virtual emergency of fighting the Corona menace.
It does NOT APPEAL TO THE COMMON SENSE OF A MAN THAT THE MEDIA IS UNAWARE OF THE ANIMOSITY and DISHARMONY which such news is bound to produce.
Matter of deep shame and deep sorrow to resort to bigotry sensationalism in journalism – to hard sell your unwholesome product.
I see future of India in his personality.
A man with vision .
India needs few more men like him.
He is always right from my point of view.
His talk makes sense.
He got potential to influence youth of this country.
You are only projecting your bigotry and shallow minded thinking by saying so. It would be a sad day for the country if lowlife like you are the future of our great country.