oppn parties The BJP Should Have Acted Earlier

News Snippets

  • SP drops two candidates owing allegiance to Azam Khan from Rampur and Moradabad
  • In Assam, a controversy erupted after a picture of UPPL leader Benjamin Basumatary, lying on a stack of Rs 500 notes circulated on social media. UPPL is an ally of the BJP
  • AAP's Jalandhar-West MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joins the BJP. He was the only AAP Lok Sabha MP
  • Supreme Court dismisses Centre's plea to review its 2023 verdict in the PMLA case
  • Close save for passengers as they remain unhurt after the wings of two planes graze at Kolkata airport. Pilots derostered and inquiry ordered by DGCA
  • Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gets notice from the EC as well as the BJP for making ugly remarks about Mamata Banerjee's parentage
  • Sadanand Vasanth Date, who faught terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was awarded the Preisent's Police medal, has been appointed the head of the NIA
  • Centre will borrow Rs 7.5L cr in the first six months of FY25, nearly 50% of the target for the full year
  • 25 stocks, including SBI, will see same day trade settlements from today in the world's fastest settlement mode in both BSE and NSE
  • Stocks recover smartly on Wednesday: Sensex rises 526 points to 72996 and Nifty 118 points to 22123
  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
  • IPL: records tumble as SRH beat MI in a high-scoring match. SRH score 277/3 with 18 sixes and Mumbai score 246 with 20 sixes to fall short by 31 runs. Atotal of 38 sixes, highest in an IPL match were hit and both teams combined to score 523 runs, the highest aggregate in an IPL match
  • Amul will launch fresh milk in the US
  • IPL: RCB beat Punjab by 4 wickets as Kohli and Karthik shine with the bat
  • India strongly objected to German foreign office remarks over the arrest of delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, called it "biased assumptions"
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
oppn parties
The BJP Should Have Acted Earlier

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-06-08 08:54:49

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

Even if a nation is not secular, respect for all religions and the founders of such religions should be a primary requisite for brotherhood and creating a nation where everyone, irrespective of religion, caste, creed and community, can live and work together in peace and harmony. India has always taken pride in being such a nation. But when hate speech started rearing its head since the last few months, it was a warning signal that some Indians were bent on othering some other Indians by poisoning the minds of their brethren. Right thinking Indians had warned the Central government and the BJP top brass to speak out against these concerted attempts - in so-called Dharam Sansads and other forums - to paint one particular religious community in vile colours and ask the Hindus to arm themselves to counter their 'vile' designs.

Now if Navin Kumar Jindal and Nupur Sharma can have the temerity to speak ill of Prophet Muhammad, it is but a natural progression from hate speeches against Muslims and has happened only because no one in government or the BJP had the good sense to put a stop to the mischief by speaking against it strongly. The present action was also not sou motu - it came after sustained violence in Kanpur and objections from India's Muslim friends in the Middle-East.

It is disturbing that the government has given a free run to habitual hate mongers. People have been arrested under draconian laws for minor offences by raising the bogey of crating disturbances among communities. But those who make hate speeches - leaders of the BJP or from the sant samaj - are either not booked or are booked after the Supreme Court intervenes but under less serious charges. This way they are getting emboldened and it is reflected in the way Jindal and Sharma could make such disrespectful and obnoxious remarks against the founder of a religion.

Expelling Jindal and suspending Sharma will not be enough to put a stop to the mischief. The BJP top brass should take a leaf out of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s book and out rightly condemn these elements who seek to paint Muslims in vile colours and incite Hindus to wage a war against them. They must categorically say that these attempts will not be tolerated and take prompt action against such people. But if the state does not do anything, these attempts will get worse leading to riots.