North-West Delhi MP Udit Raj, who quit the BJP after being denied the party ticket from the constituency, on Tuesday alleged that a Dalit can rise to any position in the saffron party (BJP) only if he is a “deaf and dumb”.
Mr. Raj, who has joined the Congress, suggested that Ram Nath Kovind was nominated by the BJP to the President’s post as he did not raise his voice in the party. However, he added that he was not commenting on the office of the President but referring to the condition of Dalits in the BJP.
When asked if the comment could be construed as an insult to the President, he said, “This is just my interpretation about the condition of Dalits in the party.”
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“BJP wants a deaf and dumb Dalit, Dalit votes but not a Dalit leader. They would have made me the Prime Minister if I had been a deaf and dumb in the party,” Mr. Raj said at a press conference at the Congress office here.
He claimed that the country is not secure in the hands of the BJP and alleged that “more soldiers were martyred during the Modi government as compared to the Congress government”. “There were inputs of threat before the Pulwama attack and 350kg RDX was moved but what was the intelligence doing?” he asked.
He also accused the BJP of indulging in religious polarisation.
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