The leading Muslim bodies of the country have called for the disqualification of the BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri who indulged in a slur-laden diatribe against Kunwar Danish Ali, the Bahujan Samaj Party MP on the concluding day of the special session of Parliament.
Condemning the speech in which Mr. Bidhuri is reported to have called Mr. Ali a “terrorist” and an “extremist” while participating in a debate on the success of India’s Chandrayaan-3 Mission, the Muslim bodies called it “an evidence of hatred for entire Muslim community”.
Speaking to the media, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president Arshad Madani said, “The use of such language against a Muslim Member of Parliament shows that, let the common Muslims aside, now the elected representative of the Muslims is not safe even in the Parliament. If this is the picture of new India, it is dangerous and disappointing.”
Mr. Madani felt it was the “constitutional and moral responsibility of the Speaker to take action against the said member”. “There have been heated and bitter debates n Parliament in the past too but no member has ever used such undignified words for a fellow elected representative. It is a manifestation of extreme hatred for Muslims,” he said.
On the same lines, the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind called for Mr. Bidhuri’s disqualification, saying, “It is a grave violation of the dignity of a Parliamentarian amounting to a hate crime as such offensive words are deployed by criminals and anti-social elements to denigrate members of a particular religious community.”
“It is also a natural outcome of the sustained narrow jingoistic ultra-nationalism practiced by those in power. It thrives on the othering of citizens like Kukis, Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis. It exposes the blatant Islamophobia breeding within many members of the ruling dispensation,” the organisation added, while pointing out that MPs are role models for citizens and that if this act goes unpunished, “it will give a message that such actions are now being normalised. It will embolden others with similar depravity and hurt our long cherished ideals and values of mutual respect and tolerance.”
The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has also demanded that Bidhuri be disqualified as MP and the BJP should also dismiss him from the party. “Anything less will show Indian democracy in poor light,” the organisation stated.
Meanwhile, the Welfare Party president S.Q.R. Ilyas asked the BJP president J.P. Nadda to take punitive action against Mr. Bidhuri for his hate speech. “This may be in accordance with BJP’s ethics, but it is certainly against the Constitution and Parliamentary ethics,” he said. Mr. Ilyas expressed his dissatisfaction towards Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh who was on the Speaker’s chair during the unfortunate moment.
Published - September 23, 2023 11:41 pm IST
