Amravati/Mumbai, Sep 18 (PTI) A political slugfest erupted in Maharashtra on Wednesday after BJP MP Anil Bonde said Rahul Gandhi’s “tongue should be singed” for his comments about reservations, and Congress questioned the chief minister’s silence over `threats’ to its leader.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Bonde, a Rajya Sabha member, in Amravati for `giving provocation with intent to cause riots’ after local Congress leaders including MP Balwant Wankhede, MLA Yashomati Thakur, former minister Sunil Deshmukh and others staged a sit-in protest at the police commissioner’s office.
Bonde made the controversial statement on Tuesday while reacting to the Shiv Sena’s Buldhana MLA Sanjay Gaikwad’s announcement of a Rs 11 lakh reward to anyone chopping off Gandhi’s tongue.
“The language of chopping off the tongue is not proper, but what Rahul ji said against reservation is dangerous….hence, if anyone speaks anything absurd in a foreign country, then rather than chopping off his tongue, it should be singed. It is necessary to certainly singe the tongues of such people — be it Rahul Gandhi, Dnyanesh Maharao or Shyam Manav and people who hurt the feelings of the ‘bahujan’ community,” Bonde had said.
Maharao, a veteran journalist, was recently accused of hurting religious sentiments, while Manav is an anti-superstition crusader.
During his recent visit to the USA, Gandhi told students at Georgetown University that the Congress would think of scrapping reservation when “India is a fair place”, which he said is not the case right now.
As the row intensified, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said he did not support the statements of both Bonde and Gaikwad, but the Congress leader should also refrain from making “anti-India statements” and asked him to clarify his stand on reservation.
Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut, on the other hand, alleged that there was a threat to Rahul Gandhi’s life.
Raut, whose party is a Congress ally, questioned the “silence” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the comments made by Bonde and Gaikwad.
The state Congress accused Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis of extending “tacit support” to those making such statements.
“Sanjay Gaikwad is a brainless thug. One doubts if he should be called an MLA. But BJP Rajya Sabha member Anil Bonde is an educated man. Even he has lowered the level of public discourse,” said state Congress chief Nana Patole.
Maharashtra Congress legislature party leader Balasaheb Thorat said the BJP and its allies have “muddied the politics of Maharashtra”.
“Everyday, their leaders’ actions are becoming a blot on the state’s political culture. What is dangerous is that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis are giving tacit support to these elements. The people of Maharashtra will punish Sanjay Gaikwad and Anil Bonde and also those who are supporting the violent comments of these two elected representatives,” he said.
Congress also said it would stage protests across Maharashtra as Patole claimed that leaders of the BJP and its allies have been issuing threats to assassinate or physically harm the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Party president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to the prime minister, still no action was being taken against those issuing threats, he alleged.
“The government should take strict action against them. The Congress party will take to the streets tomorrow to demand that action be taken,” Patole added.
Anil Bonde should think “where he will be” after two months as the Opposition alliance will come to power after the assembly elections, said the state Congress chief. PTI COR CLS PR MR NP KRK
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