New Delhi:
The BJP and the opposition traded complaints to a parliamentary panel Thursday over MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s Islamophobic rant at BSP lawmaker Danish Ali. The BJP has claimed “indecent remarks” about Prime Minister Narendra Modi led to the vile attack.

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New Delhi:

BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri – who last week hurled Islamophobic abuses and vile slurs at Bahujan Samaj Party lawmaker Kunwar Danish Ali – has been tasked with leading the party’s poll campaign in Rajasthan’s Tonk, an appointment denounced by a furious opposition as “reward for hate”.

Mr Bidhuri is from the Gurjar community and the BJP is banking on him to swing votes in the district’s four seats, one of which is held by Congress leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot. Mr Pilot’s Tonk seat has historically alternated between the two parties; in 2013 it was won by the BJP’s Ajit Singh Mehta. The last time it retained a MLA was the BJP’s Mahaveer Prasad in 1993.

On Wednesday Mr Bidhuri attended a meeting in Jaipur chaired by the BJP’s state boss, CP Joshi.

राजस्थान प्रदेश भाजपा कार्यालय जयपुर में ज़िला टोंक की समन्वय बैठक में प्रदेश अध्यक्ष श्री @cpjoshiBJP जी द्वारा संगठनात्मक कार्यों व चुनाव की तैयारियों के साथ सेवा सप्ताह के कार्यक्रमों सहित आगामी कार्यकर्ताओं के प्रवास योजनाओं की जानकारी लेते हुए। pic.twitter.com/wK63ctXR6X

— Ramesh Bidhuri (@rameshbidhuri) September 27, 2023

Speaking to NDTV a day after the abuse, Mr Ali said he had been left traumatised and shaken.

“Was this special session called to attack elected MPs by linking them to their community? This has shamed the entire country. We will see whether his party will take action or promote him,” he had said.

READ |“Considering Leaving Parliament If…”: Danish Ali On BJP MP’s Remarks

Mr Bidhuri’s deployment has been criticised by the opposition, with independent Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal accusing the BJP of having “rewarded” Ramesh Bidhuri for his shocking outburst in Parliament.

“BJP rewards ‘hate’. Bidhuri rewarded for attacking Danish Ali (with) unspeakable words he used in the Special Session of Parliament. Made BJP in-charge of Tonk District in Rajasthan,” Mr Sibal said.

He pointed out that Muslims account for nearly 30 per cent of Tonk’s population and posted on X, “(The appointment of Ramesh Bidhuri) symbolises ‘hate’ for political dividends.”

Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra also responded, tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi on her X post and asking the PM “is this your Sneha Yatra (‘love outreach’) for minorities?”

READ |“Reward For Hate”: Opposition On New Poll Duty For BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri

A distraught Mr Ali on Tuesday released footage (from Parliament) of that day, in which he is responding angrily to Mr Bidhuri’s outburst. The clip was released to counter BJP lawmakers’ claims the communal slurs flung at him were because of casteist slurs against Prime Minister Modi.

In the 33-second clip shared on X (formerly Twitter), a furious Mr Ali is seen and heard defending himself after Ramesh Bidhuri’s “abuses and extreme provocation”.

READ |“How Can This Be Allowed?” Danish Ali Releases Video After BJP MP’s Attack

“What (is he) saying? Can any terrorist enter into this House? He must apologise… yeh kya hain? How can he be allowed to say this?” he demands of the Congress who was the temporary Chair.

“… I didn’t utter a single word that could harm the sanctity of the temple of democracy. Even I didn’t repeat what Ramesh Bidhuri said about me and my community…” Mr Ali wrote on X.

Despite the abuses and extreme provocation, I didn’t utter a single word that could harm the sanctity of the temple of democracy. Even I didn’t repeat what Mr @rameshbidhuri said about me and my community. Inspite of it @BJP4India is trying it’s best to create a false narrative. pic.twitter.com/yApQ6w1vJR

— Kunwar Danish Ali (@KDanishAli) September 26, 2023

Mr Bidhuri has not yet commented on this row; he has only said the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who warned him of “strict action” if he repeats such behaviour, will rule on the matter.

READ | “No Comments, Speaker Will…”: Ramesh Bidhuri On Abusing MP In Parliament

The opposition has attacked the BJP over lack of disciplinary action against Mr Bidhuri, who has so far only been served a show-cause notice. He met party boss JP Nadda in Delhi this week but details of the meeting were not released and it is unclear if the BJP plans to sanction him at all.

READ | BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri Meets JP Nadda After Party Serves Notice For Slurs

Mr Bidhuri has considerable influence among his community and the BJP appears focused now on planning and prepping for the Rajasthan Assembly election due later this year.

On Monday Danish Ali questioned delay in action against Ramesh Bidhuri and said he feared the vulgar comments were part of a plan by the BJP to “build a new narrative” against Muslims in India.

READ | “Creating Narrative For My Lynching”: MP Danish Ali On BJP Leader’s Letter

On the Nadda-Bidhuri meeting he said, “If they would have been sincere in taking action, why would they be calling him… what proof do they need, everything is on record…”

New Delhi:

Amid the row over BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s derogatory remarks in the Lok Sabha, BSP MP Danish Ali on Monday questioned the “delay” in action against the leader of the ruling party and alleged that the comments seem to have been sanctioned by the BJP’s top leadership to build a narrative around him and his community.

Mr Ali also claimed that evidence was being “dug up” against him from that day when the incident took place.

Mr Bidhuri’s derogatory remarks targeting Ali during a discussion on the success of the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission in the Lok Sabha last Thursday have sparked a furore, with opposition leaders calling for stringent action against the BJP MP.

“There is delay in taking action, and evidence is being dug up against me from that day (when Bidhuri made the remarks). I challenge that if there is any evidence against me, then put it forward,” the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP told PTI.

“The pathshala that Danish Ali has studied in did not teach hatred. This is your (BJP) behaviour, your culture. The prime minister had said on the first day in the new Parliament building that people ‘will identify you with your behaviour and decide accordingly on which side of the Parliament one will sit’. The people of the country have seen the behaviour of the BJP,” Mr Ali said.

On his future course of action, the Amroha MP hoped action will be taken and said it should be taken. Anyone who has faith in democracy wants that action is taken, he added.

Asked about Mr Bidhuri meeting BJP chief JP Nadda at the party’s headquarters, Ali said, “If they (the BJP) would have been sincere in taking action, why would they be calling him and asking, everything is on record. Is there a conspiracy to build a new narrative.”

“What proof do they need, everything is on record. From the last two days, it seems that there was a sanction from the BJP’s top leadership for this that ‘you say this’, there is a reaction and a different narrative can be run around me and my community,” he said.

On BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s critical comments against him, Ali said, “Are you talking about the same person who is the molester of women wrestlers. He has been chargesheeted by the Delhi Police. Will he teach us what should be done. People have elected us and we always raise valid points.”

The BSP leader was referring to the sexual harassment case lodged by women wrestlers against Singh, a former chief of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).

Asked about the allegations by several BJP leaders that he indulges in “running commentary” in the House and disturbs them, the BSP leader said this is Parliament and not “the gurukul or the laboratory of Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi”.

“We are in a parliamentary democracy. People have elected us and have given us the role of sitting in the opposition. So, I carry out the responsibility of an MP of the opposition,” he asserted.

Mr Ali said he has been raising important points in the Lok Sabha and pointed out that when the no-confidence motion was being discussed, a scroll was being run on Sansad TV on the government’s achievements, and he had flagged the issue. The Chair then accepted it and it was corrected, he added.

The no-confidence motion was brought against the government in the Monsoon session of Parliament.

Opposition parties have rallied around Ali and targeted the BJP on its MP’s remarks.

Several members of the Congress, TMC and NCP among others have written to Speaker Om Birla seeking the strictest action against Mr Bidhuri.

New Delhi:

Hours after being accused of provoking the BJP MP who hurled communal slurs at him in the Lok Sabha, Bahujan Samaj Party member Danish Ali hit back at the ruling party and said that it was trying to frame a narrative against him. 

Mr Ali said that, far from provoking or instigating BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri by making an objectionable remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi – as was alleged by the party’s Nishikant Dubey earlier in the day – he was trying to get the abusive words expunged from the record. 

During a discussion on the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Mr Bidhuri had used a string of objectionable and communal words against the BSP MP, triggering disgust and widespread condemnation both from politicians and people on social media. On Friday, the BJP had also issued a show-cause notice to Mr Bidhuri and asked him to explain his conduct. 

On Saturday, however, BJP Nishikant Dubey, while condemning the language used by Mr Bidhuri, wrote to Speaker Om Birla and demanded that the “unsavoury” conduct of Mr Ali be investigated as well. 

“The fact remains that during the entire speech of Shri Bidhuri, Shri Danish Ali indulged in a ‘running commentary’ and also made unsavoury remarks towards one and all with a view to cause hindrance to Shri Bidhuri and also instigate him to ‘lose his calm and composure’ and not be able to express his views in the House,” Mr Dubey wrote in his letter. 

The BJP MP alleged that when Mr Bidhuri was speaking, the BSP MP was “busy instigating” him and also – at the top of his voice – made a “highly objectionable and blasphemous remark” against PM Modi. 

“This statement made by Danish Ali, I think, was more than enough for any patriotic public representative to ‘lose his calm’ and fall into his trap by uttering unsavoury words,” Mr Dubey said, requesting the Speaker to ensure that the remarks made by Mr Ali are probed as well. 

New Delhi:

After Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s unparliamentary remarks against Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Kunwar Danish Ali in the Lok Sabha a day earlier, Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh on Friday said that action should be taken against Bidhuri by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

Sanjay Singh said, “The insult of Danish Ali in the House is the insult of all the opposition parliamentarians of the country, I raised the question of violence in Manipur in the House, I was suspended, and no action has been taken against the BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri.”

“This is a strange thing that opposition leaders are suspended from parliament, does the PM sanction this language? What has RSS taught here? Hoolingalism is rampant in the country, and these statements are not acceptable, if Om Birlaji has any morality then action should be taken against the MP,” added Sanjay Singh.

He also hit out BJP over the politicization of law enforcement agencies by the central government.

Sanjay Singh said, “After 2014, ‘Modi washing powder’ is working in the country, whoever is involved in corruption and looting, whoever joins the BJP is declared corruption free, and whoever is against BJP is raided, and put in jail.”

Opposition leaders on Friday came down heavily over Mr Bidhuri’s communal remarks against Danish Ali in Lok Sabha on Thursday and sought strict action against him.

Mr Bidhuri’s remarks, made during the discussion on the Chandrayan-3 Mission in Lok Sabha, have been expunged from the proceedings.

Sources said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla took note of Ramesh Bidhuri’s remarks and gave him a warning. They said strict action will be taken against the BJP MP if there is a recurrence.  

Ramesh Bihduri is a BJP MP from South Delhi.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh strongly condemned Mr Bidhuri’s remarks and demanded his expulsion from Lok Sabha.

“What Ramesh Bidhuri said about Danish Ali is highly condemnable. The more it is criticised, the less it is. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has apologised but that is insufficient. I have never heard such language. This language should not be used inside or outside the Parliament. This is an insult to not only Danish Ali but all of us,” he told ANI.  

He said Mr Bidhuri’s words “show intention” of BJP and demanded strictest action against him.

“The beginning of the new Parliament has been done by Mr Bidhuri and his words. This shows the intentions of the BJP. What Bidhuri is saying is BJP’s intention…I think this is a fit case for suspension and the strictest punishment should be taken against him,” Mr Ramesh said.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah strongly objected to Mr Bidhuri’s remarks and said “We are habitual of hearing it”.

“Those words were used against the whole Muslim community. I can’t understand how can Muslims associated with the BJP tolerate this? This shows what they think about Muslims…They should be ashamed,” Mr Abdullah said.

RJD MP Manoj Jha said he is “saddened but not surprised” at Mr Bidhuri’s remarks.

“This is the truth of PM’s ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’. We need to think that if such words were used for an MP in Parliament, then to what kind of language against Muslims, and Dalits legitimacy been given? Till now, the PM could not say a word on Ramesh Bidhuri,” Jha said.

West Bengal Minister and TMC leader Shashi Panja also slammed Mr Bidhuri.

“BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri uttered derogatory insulting remarks against a fellow MP in House yesterday. Does this not affect the respect of the House? TMC condemns this kind of parliamentary behaviour,” she said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)