Campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha Lok Sabha seat Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted sitting MP and Congress candidate Danish Ali, accusing him of having objections in chanting “Bharat Mata ki jai”.
“Will a person, who cannot accept Bharat Mata ki jai, look good in the Indian Parliament? Should such a person who does not like to pay gratitude to his motherland be allowed to enter Parliament,” PM Modi asked the people at the Gajraula rally, referring to the local MP.
In September 2023, then BSP MP Danish Ali was the target of BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s hate speech and Islamophobic slurs on the floor of Lok Sabha.
BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri called Ali a “pimp”, a “terrorist” and used the pejorative “circumcised” among other derogatory remarks inside the Indian parliament. At least two senior BJP leaders and former union ministers laughed, sitting next to him.
The appeals by Ali and other Opposition leaders to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to condemn Bidhuri’s behaviour have gone unanswered.
As outrage over the remarks grew inside parliament, defence minister and former BJP president Rajnath Singh had issued an apology. “I express regret if the opposition is hurt by the remarks made by the member,” he said. The remarks were also expunged from parliamentary records. That matter is before the Lok Sabha’s Privileges Committee.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.