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Amit Shah said BJP has to win in Nepal and Sri Lanka also: Tripura CM
The BJP sought to play down Chief Minister Biplab Deb's comment saying the party has been spreading Indian culture and philosophy in different countries.
Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb has sparked yet another controversy after claiming at a recent party event that Union home minister Amit Shah had spoken about plans to expand BJP's influence in Nepal and Sri Lanka a few years ago.
Deb claimed that when Amit Shah was the party president, he had shared plans of having BJP governments in Nepal and Sri Lanka during a meeting in Tripura.
"We were talking at a meeting in the State Guest House, when Ajay Jamwal (BJP's zonal secretary for northeast) said that BJP had come to power in several states. In reply, Amit Shah said that Nepal and Sri Lanka are still left. We have to win there as well," Deb said in a party programme in Agartala recently, a video of which has been widely shared.
Deb claimed that the BJP has become the largest party in the world due to Amit Shah's leadership.
"The communists claimed that their party was the world's largest party. But Amit Shah made the BJP the largest party in the world," the chief minister said.
Deb also claimed that the BJP would form government in Kerala and would change the trend of the Left and Congress coming to power alternately every five years. Like Kerala, BJP would form a government in Tamil Nadu.
“In Kerala, there will be no CPM and Congress because Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have already reached there. BJP will come to power in Tamil Nadu too. There will be no government other than BJP," he said.
Deb’s reference to Nepal and Sri Lanka drew a sharp response from the Congress which accused the BJP of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.
“This attitude of BJP is anti-national and anti-democratic. We respect our neighbouring countries and there is no justification to interfere in the internal affairs of these countries," vice-president of Tripura’s Congress unit Tapas De said on Monday.
Under fire over Deb’s comment, the BJP said it has been spreading Indian culture and philosophy in different countries.
BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya said, "Our work to spread our Indian culture and philosophy in different countries apart from India started many days back. Contesting elections is not our prime agenda. We focus on winning the hearts of people of different countries."
CPI(M) veteran leader and former party secretary Bijan Dhar declined to comment on Deb’s statement.
Biplab Deb is no stranger to controversy. In April 2018 he said the internet existed in the days of the Mahabharata.In August that year, he also claimed that ducks raise oxygen level in water bodies.
