New Delhi, March 3
The government faced a tough time in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday as opposition members raised the issue of what they called "hate and inflammatory" speeches by BJP MPs and legislators in different parts of the country.
The irresponsible speeches by elected representatives of the people were sending wrong signal among the masses and the practice should be stopped, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said.
The Congress leader was speaking on a calling attention motion regarding speeches made by union ministers and other elected representatives in violation of the Constitution and the oath of office they take.
"What message do you want to send out to the people across the country," he asked the union government while naming BJP lawmakers like union Minister of State for Human Rresource Development Ram Shankar Katheria, Yogi Adityanath and Sakshi Maharaj who have been caught on camera making such statements.
"These are the leaders who continue to make inflammatory speeches," the Congress leader said.
Azad said it seemed that the union government and the Bharatiya Janata Party had "two different agendas".
Asking for Home Minister Rajnath Singh's attention to his submissions, Azad said: "There is a problem. The BJP has its own agenda which is different from that of the government."
He urged the home minister to book the culprits and send them to jail.
D. Raja of the Communist Party of India also expressed similar sentiments and said that by making such speeches the public representatives were insulting "Mother India".
Raja asked Rajnath Singh why the government had not taken action against Katheria and others.
The Left leader also expressed disappointment that people like Nathuram Godse, who killed Mahatma Gandhi, were honoured by the BJP.
Husain Dalwai of the Congress said this was happening ever since the National Democratic Alliance government came to power at the Centre.
"I have not seen such a weak prime minister who cannot control his own people," he remarked. "Is it a government of the BJP or the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh," the Congress leader asked.
Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal-United and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati also expressed concern over the issue.
Yadav said the precious time of the house was being wasted by discussing such issues.
"Had the BJP controlled its members, this time could have been used to discuss important issues the country is facing," he said.
Similarly, Mayawati said had there been a BSP government in Uttar Pradesh, she would have sent Katheria to jail.
"Katheria should have been sent to jail. Had I been in power, I would have sent him to jail - the place he belongs to," she added.
Other opposition members also echoed the same sentiments over the issue, urging the government to pay heed to it.
Katheria's hate speech no aberration: CPI-M
It will be wrong to see central Minister Ram Shankar Katheria's anti-Muslim speech as an "aberration" and he should be removed from the central government, the CPI-M has said.
CPI-M journal "People's Democracy" said in an editorial that it had become routine for ministers in the Narendra Modi government to make speeches of communal incitement, violating their oath of office.
Even so, the comments by Minister of State for Human Resource Development made against Muslims in Agra "has to be taken with the utmost seriousness", it said.
Addressing a gathering organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parisad after one of its workers was killed, Katheria said: "We have to make ourselves powerful... Before another (life) is lost, we must show such strength that these killers themselves disappear."
The editorial said similar speeches were made at a Mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh prior to the horrific communal violence there in September 2013.
"That a minister in the Modi cabinet is fomenting such communal violence is an act which cannot be condoned in any way," the Communist Party of India-Marxist said.
"It will be a mistake to see Katheria's incitement of violence as an aberration. There are some who still think that all this would stop if Modi intervenes and reins in his ministers. The reality is otherwise.
"The Modi cabinet is filled with ministers, who, motivated by their RSS and Hindutva links, not only spout communal rhetoric, but also act on it."
The editorial urged the Uttar Pradesh government to book Katheria and all others who incited communal violence in Agra. It also asked Modi to sack Katheria as a minister.
