New Delhi: A day after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament (MP) Ramesh Bidhuri made an “anti-Muslim remark” — targeting Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Danish Ali in Lok Sabha during a debate on India’s Chandrayaan III mission, which successfully landed on the moon last month — the row continued to create a political ruckus Friday.
While Ali said he will resign from the Lok Sabha if action is not taken against Bidhuri, sources in BJP told ThePrint that the party has served a show-cause notice to the MP for “use of unparliamentary language”.
ThePrint has reached Bidhuri for comment over phone. The report will be updated once a comment is received.
Meanwhile, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi visited Ali Friday.
Talking to ThePrint, Ali said, “If this happens with a parliamentarian then what will happen to a common man. I have written a letter to the Speaker about the words he [Bidhuri] has used. I am asking (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief) Mohan Bhagwat whether you teach this kind of sanskritik rashtravad (cultural nationalism) in your shakhas [branches]. Whether Modi ji, you teach these things in your prayogshala [laboratory] of naya Bharat [new India]. This is what they teach in shakhas and prayogshala.”
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the ideological fountainhead of the BJP.
Ali added that he wanted strict action to be taken against Bidhuri. The BSP leader held a press conference Friday where he said that he could not meet the Speaker, but has submitted the letter to his office.
“Now we know why the Special session [of Parliament] was called. It was called to humiliate the representative of the largest minority community in the country. I have requested the Speaker to refer the matter to the Committee of Privileges for examination, investigation and report. I will resign from Lok Sabha if no action is taken,” he told ThePrint.
In his letter to the Speaker, Ali said he has written that he is deeply anguished regarding the speech given in Lok Sabha by BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri during the discussion on “Chandrayan’s success”. A copy of the letter is with ThePrint.
Bidhuri’s remarks were later expunged by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has apologised for the comments made by the BJP MP.
BJP’s Minority Morcha chief, however, came to Bidhuri’s defence Friday.
“It is being made out to be a Hindu-Muslim issue which is not right. Ramesh ji was referring to him (Danish Ali) and not the Muslim community. Wo ache aadmi hai, musalmano ke dost hai [He is a good man, a friend of Muslims]. He attends weddings of Muslims and has no ill-feeling against the community. Danish Ali was unnecessarily interrupting him and everyone knows that Bidhuri is short-tempered and he lost his cool,” Jamal Siddiqui, national minority morcha chief of the BJP told ThePrint.
Siddiqui further alleged that Danish Ali deliberately provoked Bidhuri.
“Though some words were certainly not right, but this episode is being used for Hindu-Muslim polarisation and to tarnish the image of Bidhuri. It was definitely not his intent. He was in fact speaking on the Chandrayaan and was being interrupted several times. All the words and language used by Bidhuri were for Danish Ali. Danish Ali bhi doodh ke dhule nahi hai [not blameless],” Siddiqui alleged.
The BJP MP’s remarks Thursday, however, triggered a political row Friday, with opposition parties — including the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) — hitting out at the ruling party over Bidhuri’s statement.
Opposition brickbat
Congress leader K. Suresh, who was in the Chair when the row took place, said Thursday the had directed for Bidhuri’s comments to be expunged from the Lok Sabha records.
However, opposition parties continued to hit out at both the BJP and MP Bidhuri Friday.
“Hate against Muslims has been mainstreamed like never before. How do Muslims who identify the BJP as their party coexist alongside this level of abject hatred?,” former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wrote on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) Friday.
Bidhuri’s comments came in the midst of a discussion on the “success of Chandrayaan-3 mission and other achievements of our nation in the space sector”.
In a video statement released to the media Friday, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said, “What Bidhuri has said is an insult to parliament. It makes a mockery of what the prime minister keeps on repeating, ‘sabka sath, sabka prayas, sabka vishwas‘. It becomes all backwas (rubbish) with what Mr. Bidhuri has said.”
Demanding the “strictest possible action” against the BJP MP, Ramesh added, “If this is not a case for suspension. Mr Sanjay Singh and Mr Raghav Chadha [of AAP] stand suspended for exercising their democratic right to protest inside parliament and Mr. Bidhuri has spoken in a language, which is not an insult to Mr. Danish Ali alone. It’s an insult to every MP, every Indian that he is allowed to speak in this manner.”
Ramesh also termed Rajnath Singh’s apology an “eyewash” and an “afterthought” and demanded that BJP must take strongest possible action against the MP.
Taking a strong stand on the issue, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) demanded Bidhuri’s arrest Friday.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Gupta too spoke up against the episode, saying, “This BJP MP has tarnished the temple of democracy”.
In a separate post on X from AAP’s official handle, the opposition party also hit out at senior BJP leaders Harsh Vardhan and Ravi Shankar Prasad, who were allegedly seen laughing, seated behind Bidhuri.
Responding to the allegations in a post on X, Harsh Vardhan said, “I feel sad and humiliated that some people with vested interest have dragged my name into this”.
Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP from RJD Manoj Kumar Jha said he was “saddened but not surprised” by the entire episode.
TMC MP Mahua Moitra also launched an attack against Bidhuri and the prime minister on social media.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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