Bhopal: There aren’t many lawmakers today who would admit that they were part of the mob that demolished the Babri mosque in 1992, let alone glorify it as the most “fulfilling occasion” in their lives.
But BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma, the pro tem Speaker of the Madhya Pradesh assembly, is known to flaunt his belief in hard-line Hindutva.
Be it the so-called issue of “love jihad” or the communal tensions witnessed in Madhya Pradesh during the ongoing fund-raising campaign for the Ram temple, Sharma, the longest-serving pro tem Speaker in India ever, has a knack for making incendiary statements.
If he had his way, in fact, he would not allow Muslims to participate in garba, the dance festivities observed during Navratri.
Just last month, when the state’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet cleared the Freedom of Religion Bill, 2020 — an ordinance against unlawful conversion — he tweeted, “Love jihad kiya to ab hoga sarvanash (total destruction awaits those who indulge in love jihad).”
लव जिहाद किया तो अब होगा सर्वनाश
मुख्यमंत्री श्री @ChouhanShivraj जी के नेतृत्व वाली प्रदेश सरकार का आभार ?? pic.twitter.com/eXC0t0wwrI
— Rameshwar Sharma (@rameshwar4111) December 26, 2020
Love jihad is an alleged conspiracy theory that is often propounded by the Hindutva camp. It refers to an alleged design by the Muslim community to “lure” Hindu women to convert under false promises of love.
Last week, referring to Chouhan’s call for a law against stone-pelting following allegations that rallies during the Ram temple fund-raising campaign were attacked with stones, he said: “Pattharbajon kaan khol ke sun lo, Sita ko Rubiya banane wale bhi kaan khol ke sun lo, ab ye dhande band karo… betiyon ki surksha hogi, shanti ki shobhayatra bhi niklegi, in par hamla kiya to tumhare makan bhi zameen-dost honge… aur sampatti bhi raajsat hogi.”
(Stone-pelters, listen, those who convert Sita to Rubiya, stop such activities, now daughters will be safe, religious processions will be taken out peacefully. If you attack them, your houses will be bulldozed and property impounded.)
His comments often put the BJP in an awkward position, but Sharma is unfazed. “I have always been a hard-liner. My funda is clear. Maybe people’s viewpoint has changed,” the two-time legislator told ThePrint, acknowledging that people have expected him to be different since he became the pro tem Speaker on 2 July.
Also Read: Ram Mandir fund collection drive stokes tension in MP, clashes, bid to damage mosques reported
A ‘warning’
Sharma joined the BJP in 1993 and has served two terms as councillor in the Bhopal Municipal Corporation. In 2003, he lost the assembly election from Muslim-dominated Bhopal (North).
Sporting saffron, he leads a huge Kanwad yatra every year from Hoshangabad to Bhopal, at the end of which water from the Narmada is offered to Lord Shiva.
Given his statements, he was not considered a frontrunner for the post of pro tem Speaker after the BJP returned to office in Madhya Pradesh last year. However, after the previous pro tem Speaker Jagdish Devda resigned and was inducted into the Chouhan cabinet, Sharma assumed the post in July 2020.
More than six months later, he still holds the post because elections for the Speaker’s chair haven’t been held so far. Two assembly sessions have been called since, but deferred because of Covid-19.
Sharma started off as an RSS activist and was Bajrang Dal’s Bhopal convenor when the Babri mosque was demolished in December 1992.
“When I returned to Bhopal (after the demolition), I told them (Muslims), don’t attack or we will respond,” he said, speaking to ThePrint.
“Dhancha waha tuta hai aap yaha shanti rakho (The structure has been demolished there, you maintain peace here). You too will not be safe if you engage in arson and violence in retaliation (to the demolition),” he added.
Last month, he visited Ayodhya on 6 December to mark the anniversary of the demolition — an event marked among Hindutva followers as ‘Shaurya Diwas’. Two days later, he met Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow to know the granular details of the state government’s ordinance against conversion.
Also Read: Day after UP’s ‘love jihad’ ordinance, MP follows suit with 10-year jail term
‘Not against Muslims’
From proposing a ban on Muslims at garba festivities, to not allowing the sale of chicken and cow milk from one parlour, to opposing restrictions imposed by the Bhopal administration on the size of Durga idols in 2019, Sharma’s stance as lawmaker often reflects his days in the Bajrang Dal, an outfit under the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) that has often found itself in headlines for harassing couples on Valentine’s Day and leading protests against movies deemed to be hurtful to religious sentiments.
There are other controversial remarks too. In 2016, he said those seeking proof of the Army’s surgical strikes are like people who insist on “watching a video of their parents’ wedding night before accepting someone as father”.
Speaking to ThePrint, he said he is never afraid of consequences. “If you are scared, you will do no good. Even Bhagat Singh or Khudiram Bose or Ashfaqullah Khan must have faced such a thought,” he added, saying “there will always be some people who disagree with you”.
“I am still firm on the stand against the participation of Muslims in garba. It’s a religious event and only those who have faith (in Hinduism) should attend. Will they embrace Hinduism if they are allowed? No. Then why should they turn up?” he said.
The anti-conversion law, he added, “will also help Muslim women because their parents would come to know of such marriages (should they want to convert after marrying a Hindu)”.
Asked about the tensions that erupted in MP during the Ram temple fund-raising drive, he sought to justify instances where people scaled the walls of mosques, alleging that it was a reaction to stone-pelting.
“Where in the Constitution or the Quran is it written that rallies can’t pass on roads near mosques? These are government roads, not owned by masjid committees. If you don’t follow rules, how do you expect others to follow them?” he said.
“Don’t act in a way that will invite reaction. Laws are being made precisely to stop such reactions,” he added.
According to Sharma, he is not against Muslims, but those who interpret Islam in a certain way. “Why is it that a religion that was known for peace and harmony has come to be associated with bombs? Muslims are getting killed at the hands of Muslims in Kashmir,” he said.
“I am sure the 27,000 Muslim voters in my constituency don’t vote for me, but I do not stop development of the areas where they live,” he added.
His Congress rival in the 2018 MP assembly election, Naresh Gyanchandani, said Sharma’s comments reek of “design”.
“He wants to invite attention in the hope that he will become minister,’’ he said of Sharma, who defeated him by a margin of less than 16,000 votes. “You can either seek votes with love or by terrorising. He prefers the second option,” he added.
Sharma’s name is among the possible contenders for the Speaker’s post as and when elections are held. But his demeanour is unlikely to change. “Whether as a minister or speaker, I will bat freely,” he said.
Also Read: Why ‘secular’ Shivraj has embraced aggressive Hindutva on ‘love jihad’, cow and more