Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP, Anil Bonde, stirred controversy after he said Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's tongue should be singed for his remarks on the reservation system. Calling Gandhi's comment on 'scrapping reservation' as 'dangerous', the BJP leader said the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha has hurt the feeling of 'bahujans'.
The BJP leader's remark comes in the wake of Shiv Sena's Buldhana MLA Sanjay Gaikwad kicking up a row by announcing a Rs 11 lakh reward to anyone chopping off Gandhi's tongue for his remarks on scrapping the reservation system.
"The language of chopping off the tongue is not proper, but what Rahul ji said against reservation is dangerous," Bonde said at Amravati in Maharashtra on Tuesday, according to a report by news agency PTI. The BJP leader was reacting to Gaikwad's statement.
"Hence, if anyone speaks anything absurd in a foreign country, then rather than chopping off his tongue, it should be singed. It is necessary to certainly singe the tongues of such people - be it Rahul Gandhi, Dnyanesh Maharao or Shyam Manav and people who hurt the feelings of the 'bahujan' and majority," he added.
Maharao, an author, is accused of making derogatory comments on Hindu deities recently, while Manav is an anti-superstition crusader. A video of Bonde's remarks went viral on social media, inviting criticism from the opposition parties, while his party distanced itself from the controversy.
During his recent visit to the USA, Gandhi told students at Georgetown University that the Congress would think of scrapping reservations when India is a fair place, which he said is not the case right now.
INDIA Bloc Attacks BJP
Several Congress leaders and workers staged a sit-in protest outside the Amravati police commissioner demanding action against Bonde over his remarks. They demanded that a case be registered against Bonde for his remarks.
Meanwhile, Congress Maha Vikar Aghadi (MVA) ally Shiv Sena (UBT) condemned the remarks made by BJP-Shiv Sena lawmakers against Gandhi. Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut alleged that there was a conspiracy against Gandhi and a threat to his life and questioned the "silence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the comments made by Bonde and Gaikwad. He also alleged conspiracy against Gandhi and threat to his life.
BJP Distances Itself From Row
Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said he does not support the statements made by Bonde and Gaikwad against Rahul Gandhi, but said the Congress leader should also refrain from giving "anti-India statements" and asked him to clarify his stand on the issue of reservation. "I do not support the statements made by Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad and BJP's Rajya Sabha member Anil Bonde. They should refrain from making such statements again," he said.