BJP warns its MPs against making provocative remarks

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 1

Amid a fiery debate, both inside and outside of the Parliament, over perceived “intolerance” in the country, the BJP today warned its lawmakers not to “fall prey to the tactics of Opposition, get provoked and make any provocative statements” that could spoil the government’s development agenda.

Speaking at the BJP parliamentary party meeting, Parliamentary Affairs M Venkaiah Naidu categorically told the MPs that killing of innocents in the name of religion or caste was a blot on society and had to be “condemned fiercely”. “Politicising such murders is also a crime and giving the crime, communal colour is a sin,” he warned at the meeting that was also attended by BJP chief Amit Shah.

Naidu’s statement assumes significance considering that views expressed by certain party leaders, including ministers, in the wake of incidents such as Dadri and burning alive of two Dalit children, had added fuel to debate over “growing intolerance” in the country.

Even during the ongoing discussion in the two Houses, whether on the issue of intolerance or the Constitution, controversial comments by BJP leaders such as VK Singh, Sakshi Maharaj, Yogi Adityaraj and Mahesh Sharma came as handy ammo for the Opposition to attack the government.

In fact, MPs were specifically told to avoid making provocative statements or succumbing to them inside and outside Parliament. They were being used by anti-saffron forces to deflect the attention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development agenda and stall proceedings of Parliament.