Bihar BJP MLA wants to take away Muslims’ voting rights, he gets a party notice, and BJP’s alliance partner JD(U), reacted sharply.
Bihar BJP MLA Haribhushan Thakur, in Bihar’s Madhubani district, on Friday reiterated the need to take away the voting rights of Muslims. On Friday, he told the media: “As Muslims were given a separate country at the time of Partition in 1947, they should leave for Pakistan. And if they live in India, they should live like second-class citizens. We urge the government to take away Muslims’ voting rights.”
His inflammatory words prompted the party’s state unit to issue him a show-cause notice to explain his remarks. BJP’s alliance partner JD(U), meanwhile, reacted sharply, with its spokesperson Neeraj Kumar calling Thakur’s comments “preposterous and inflammatory”.
Haribhushan Thakur had made similar comments on Thursday. Thakur alleged that Muslims have an agenda — that of making India “an Islamist state”. Thakur, known for making controversial remarks, also said that Muslim MLAs should also face action from the Bihar Assembly Speaker if they refuse to sing ‘Vande Mataram’. “What is the national song (for), after all? It is to worship the Earth, flowers, and water. Will they (Muslims) stop drinking water (if they refuse to sing Vande Mataram),” he asked.
JD(U)’s Neeraj Kumar said, “It seems Thakur has no knowledge of Indian citizenship. Who is he to decide the citizenship of people living in India? He is not going to get any political mileage; he just wants to get media attention.” BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal said, “We have already dissociated ourselves from Thakur’s statement and served him a notice to explain why he said what he said.” Guru Prakash Padwan, a BJP national spokesperson, said: “This is absolutely unwarranted.
Through our policies, we have ensured that government schemes are reaching to the last person in line regardless of gender, caste, and religion. Our perspective is inclusive in nature…”
