BJP’s politics and the words of its leaders are filled with hatred and a violent mindset, says state Congress chief
Team Clarion
JAIPUR – The Congress has taken strong exception to the BJP legislator in Rajasthan Gopal Sharma’s remark against the party MLA Rafiq Khan calling him a ‘Pakistani’ during a debate in the state assembly.
The state Congress chief, Govind Dotasra, strongly criticised BJP and said that apart from spreading hatred, violence, and abusive language, nothing else can be expected from the party. He condemned Sharma’s objectionable remark against Khan inside the assembly, calling it highly shameful. According to him, BJP’s politics and the words of its leaders are filled with hatred and a violent mindset.
He further questioned, “Where are those so-called righteous individuals now, who scream at the top of their lungs inside the assembly, preaching about decorum and dignified behaviour? These shameless and hateful individuals have now fallen silent.”
The controversy surrounding Sharma’s remark has now escalated, drawing sharp reactions from opposition leaders. Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully hit back at the BJP MLA, calling his comment crude and disgraceful.
The state assembly on Friday witnessed an uproar after Sharma’s remarks against Khan.
During the debate on UDH grant demands in the assembly, noisy scenes were witnessed when Khan started criticising Sharma over his speech and allegations levelled at senior Congress leaders.
Khan was comparing the Congress and BJP rule on urban development works.
During this, the BJP MLA stood up and started saying ‘Pakistani-Pakistani’ to which Congress MLAs opposed strongly.
This led to an uproar in the House. Chairperson Sandeep Sharma intervened and asked the members to settle down.
Khan took a dig at Sharma saying that this was an MLA speaking a while ago. During this, Sharma stood up and started speaking and later called the Congress MLA a ‘Pakistani’ several times.
Sharma had also passed remarks over Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. When Congress MLAs objected to this, he apologised as the Chairperson objected that he cannot name anyone who is not a member of the House.
Sharma later made allegations against other late Congress leaders and then apologised. Khan took a dig at this, after which there was an uproar in the assembly.
Referring to the controversy, social media user Saba Khan said the Supreme Court has recently ruled that calling someone ‘Mian-Tian’ or a ‘Pakistani’ does not constitute a criminal offence under Section 298 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“Well according to milords sitting in the Supreme Court calling someone Pakistani or Mian-Tian is not offensive,” the user posted on X.
This week, the Supreme Court bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma quashed charges against Harinarayan Singh, who was accused of using these terms against a Muslim government employee.
The case was filed by Mohammad Shamimuddin, an Urdu translator working in the Chas subdivision office of Bokaro, Jharkhand. He alleged that Singh had made derogatory remarks referring to his religion, which hurt his religious sentiments. According to Shamimuddin, when he went to provide information related to an RTI application, Singh referred to him as ‘Mian-Tian’ and ‘Pakistani’.