Lok Sabha elections 2019: EC must take note, says JD (U) after Giriraj’s latest on Muslims
Asked for reaction, JD (U) national general secretary K C Tyagi said, “The EC should take cognizance of such comments.” LJP leader Chirag Paswan said his party did not support use of such language.
A day after seeking a ban on green flags which “gave him a feeling of being in Pakistan”, union minister and BJP’s candidate from Begusarai, Giriraj Singh, triggered another row with his remarks that “Muslims will have to say Vande Matram if they need three yards of land for graveyard”, a comment that angered key ally JD(U) which has asked the Election Commission (EC) to take cognizance of comments.
At an election rally at Begusarai on Wednesday, which was also attended by BJP’s national president Amit Shah and deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, Singh had said, “RJD’s Darbhanga candidate (Abdul Bari Siddiqui) had said he would not say Vande Matram. If they (Muslims) need three yards of land for graveyard, they should not have problem in speaking Vande Matram.”
Begusarai goes to poll on April 29.
Asked for reaction, JD (U) national general secretary K C Tyagi said, “The EC should take cognizance of such comments.”
LJP leader Chirag Paswan said his party did not support use of such language.
On Tuesday, Giriraj Singh had called for a ban on green flags, which he said “tend to create hatred in the society and gives one a feeling of being in Pakistan”. The RJD, which incidentally has a green flag, demanded a ban on Singh, who is contesting from Begusarai against RJD’s Tanveer Hassan and CPI’s Kanhaiya Kumar.
Singh has been known for his incendiary remarks in the past too. Only last year, he had embarrassed the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in Bihar when he demanded renaming Bakhtiarpur town, where Nitish Kumar was born. The minister also wanted the name of Akbarpur in his current Lok Sabha constituency of Nawada changed, saying it was named after Mughal emperor Akbar.
