Facing severe flak for the controversial remarks made by its leaders, the BJP president Amit Shah came out in defence of his party claiming that the tendentious remarks made by its leaders were their personal opinions and they do not reflect party’s stand on the matter.
इन लोगों ने अपने बयान वापिस लिए हैं और माफ़ी भी मांगी है। फिर भी सार्वजनिक जीवन तथा भारतीय जनता पार्टी की गरिमा और विचारधारा के विपरीत इन बयानों को पार्टी ने गंभीरता से लेकर तीनों बयानों को अनुशासन समिति को भेजने का निर्णय किया है।
— Chowkidar Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 17, 2019
The BJP president has also said that the concerned leaders have taken their statements back and apologized for the same. Shah further added that the party has taken their remarks seriously and has sent them to the disciplinary committee to seek an explanation from Ananthkumar Hegde, Sadhvi Pragya, and Nalin Kateel for their controversial remarks. The committee will submit the report to the party within 10 days.
Earlier, the BJP candidate from Bhopal constituency, Sadhvi Pragya stirred a furore by calling Nathuram Godse a ‘Deshbhakt’(Nationalist). Sadhvi Pragya was responding to a question related to actor Kamal Hassan who had claimed Nathuram Godse was the first Hindu terrorist since India’s independence. The statement from Sadhvi Pragya evoked objection from several quarters.
BJP leader Ananthkumar Hegde jumped in the brewing controversy tweeting that Godse would have been happy at the debate going on in the country with the changing perceptional environment that allows condemned to be heard upon. However, he soon deleted the tweet claiming that his Twitter account had been hacked twice in this week.
BJP MP from Karnataka Nalin Kateel equated Nathuram Godse with erstwhile Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who PM Modi said died as ‘Brashtachari Number 1‘. Kateel tweeted that Godse killed 1 while Rajiv Gandhi killed 17000. Kateel’s reference was about the Sikh Genocide which was allegedly presided over by Rajiv Gandhi in which around 3000 perished and in Bhopal Gas Tragedy in which around 15000 were killed, whose culprit Warren Anderson flew out of Bhopal on the official plane of Arjun Singh, allegedly on the directions of Rajiv Gandhi. The tweet has been deleted now.
