New Delhi: National president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), J.P. Nadda told BJP MPs in a virtual meeting Friday to refrain from making remarks on religious or cultural issues and to steer clear of any controversies that can assume a communal overtone.
Party leaders should instead focus on developmental work overseen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and takeaways from the Union Budget, said Nadda, according to BJP leaders who attended the virtual meeting.
One BJP MP told ThePrint on condition of anonymity, “The party president’s message was not directed towards any particular leader. His comments came after a few leaders visited Bageshwar Dham and made statements in support of it.”
A temple near Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh, Bageshwar Dham has been in the news these last few months owing to the controversy surrounding its 26-year-old head priest Dhirendra Krishna Shastri.
“Party does not want to associate itself with any controversial leader. This (visits/remarks) should not be seen as an endorsement by the party. His (Nadda’s) message was for every single party leader who tried to make headlines by issuing sensational remarks. A few leaders are habitual offenders, but the party warns them from time to time not to create unnecessary headlines and vitiate the atmosphere,” the MP added.
During the virtual interaction, Nadda also underlined the need for them to refrain from creating a polarised atmosphere, which he said is perceived by the voters as intentional. He instead urged them to stick to a discourse centred around the Modi government’s development agenda.
Nadda told BJP MPs that they should not position themselves as experts on either religion or culture, and should not involve themselves in any controversy or speak on behalf of controversial personalities such as Dhirendra Shastri.
A number of political leaders, including MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Congress’s Kamal Nath, have already made high-profile visits to Bageshwar Dham ahead of assembly polls in the state.
Nadda is learnt to have told lawmakers that those who wish to visit Bageshwar Dham must do so in a personal capacity and not to make a political statement. While he did not take any names, the remarks come days after Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari was spotted at Bageshwar Dham, sharing a stage with Shastri, singing a Bhojpuri song and endorsing the self-proclaimed godman’s views on making India a “Hindu Rashtra”.
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‘Build narrative around work’: Nadda
Another BJP MP who was part of the virtual meeting told ThePrint, “Nadda’s thrust was on guiding MPs to focus on development and to build a narrative centred around the work done by BJP governments at the centre and in states.”
The MP added that this was not the first time Nadda had warned party leaders to steer clear of unnecessary headlines. “When the prime minister is asking BJP leaders to build bridges between Hindus and Muslims, any unnecessary comments by leaders create suspicion in the minds of communities — the effort gets diluted — that was the crux of his message.”
A senior BJP leader from Delhi confirmed that Nadda’s message was received loud and clear: “Work done by the party should be the focus and the narrative”.
“When during the hijab controversy, many Karnataka BJP leaders thought making a statement on the hijab would benefit the party, the party president personally called several of those leaders and asked them not to make unnecessary remarks. Rather, the chief minister (Basavaraj Bommai) was asked to focus on development work done by the party,” the leader said.
Further explaining the party’s message to its leaders, he added, “The Union government has presented a very good Budget. Discourse should be restricted to Budget, but many times party leaders thought it wouldn’t make headlines, which is why they chose to comment on controversial issues.”
In December last year, BJP MP from Bhopal Pragya Thakur had courted controversy with her remarks on “love jihad” at an event in Karnataka’s Shivamogga. “Keep your weapons in your homes. At least keep the knives used to cut vegetables sharp,” she had appealed to Hindus.
The suspension of its spokesperson Nupur Sharma for her statement on the Prophet Muhammad was another instance where the BJP had to take action against a party member for making controversial remarks.
Just last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked BJP leaders during the party’s national executive meet to refrain from making unnecessary remarks on films.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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