Ahead of the Bihar state assembly elections later this year, reports state that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is putting up an attempt to reign in party leaders who make controversial remarks on part of the saffron camp.
On Saturday, BJP president JP Nadda summoned Union Minister and veteran party leader Giriraj Singh and cautioned him against making such remarks. Singh is often considered one of the BJP leaders who is a Hindutva hardliner and makes controversial statements that have even been described as “communal” in some reports. This particular admonishment came after Singh stoked controversy by describing Deoband, the seat of Islamic seminary, as the “Gangotri of terrorism”.
A few days back, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and the force behind the BJP’s high-octane campaign in the Delhi assembly polls, attributed controversial remarks made by some party leaders in the run-up to the campaign as one of the reasons for the BJP’s defeat.
Speeches like ‘Indo-Pak match’ should not have been made by BJP leaders during the recent Delhi election campaign and that such remarks may have resulted in the party’s defeat, Shah had said while speaking about the party’s defeat in Delhi assembly polls.
The sources in the BJP said now the party has set its eye on the Bihar Assembly polls, where it is in alliance with the JD(U) and wants to ensure their victory in the state.
Therefore, the BJP does not want its leaders to switch to provocative rhetoric which brings bad name for the party, the sources said, adding that at the same time such remarks may not go down well with the Janata Dal (United), which never hesitates in flaunting its secular credentials.
The assembly elections in Bihar are expected to be held around October this year and the JD(U)-BJP alliance government under Nitish Kumar is seeking re-election.
(With PTI inputs)
Source: dnaindia.com