Faced with many complaints about “hate speeches” by Sangh Parivar leaders, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) decided on Tuesday to write to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to “restrain people in responsible positions from making irresponsible statements.”
Asked what difference the letter would make when a similarly worded resolution it adopted in early September yielded no results, a commission member said it was stepping up pressure on the government in a graded manner. “If this does not work, then we will consider other options,” he said.
In its letter, the commission will enclose the complaints it received over the past week, the latest being against Sakshi Maharaj, Unnao MP, who alleged on Sunday that “Muslim youths were being motivated in madrasas for ‘love jihad’ with offers of cash rewards to marry Hindu, Sikh and Jain girls.” The Bharatiya Janata Party has distanced itself from the MP’s statement, saying it was his personal opinion.
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On Tuesday, the commission looked into a complaint that a BJP legislator from Madhya Pradesh, Usha Thakur, asked her party workers to ensure that Muslim boys were not allowed into Garba venues during the Navdurga festival in her constituency, Indore. She alleged that the boys used the festival to lure Hindu girls and convert them to Islam as part of “love jihad.”
The commission’s resolution did not name Yogi Adityanath, Gorakhpur MP, though it was passed after a complaint was made against him. It condemned the “communally charged statements attributed to prominent people in public life,” which was “creating this atmosphere of mistrust and heightened tension” in the country.