BJP doesn’t win elections by killing political rivals: Amit Shah in LS
The Union home minister's comments come in the backdrop of violence in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, where nine people were killed following the killing of a local Trinamool Congress leader.
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins elections based on its ideology and not by violence against its rivals, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday.
Shah’s comments come in the backdrop of violence in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, where nine people were burnt to death following the killing of a local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader.
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Speaking in Parliament during a discussion on the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, Shah said, “We want to contest and win elections on the basis of our programmes, ideology, popularity of our leaders and our performance. Yes, we want to fight polls and win everywhere. But, we don’t want to come to power by killing the workers of the Opposition. We don’t want to win through a series of murders. We don’t want this by raping the wives and sisters of workers. This is not our culture.”
“Every party should go everywhere with their ideology, stand, programme and performance. That’s the beauty of democracy. What’s objectionable here? If a party thinks its candidates should be elected to power on the basis of their ideology and popularity, what is objectionable here? Only those who fear the loss of power can be objecting to this. Advocates of democracy can never object to it,” Shah added.
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The Birbhum killings have led to a massive political showdown between the BJP and TMC. Earlier on Wednesday, a five-member BJP fact-finding committee submitted a report to party president JP Nadda attributing the violence to “state-sponsored extortion”.
During the debate, TMC MP Saugata Roy asked Shah how many of those involved in the riots in northeast Delhi have been punished.
Shah responded saying at least 2,000 people have been arrested in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots and just 83 of them could get bail from court so far. “Dada said that I had assured that I will put behind bars everyone involved in Delhi riots… Dada, this is not West Bengal. It’s BJP rule in Delhi, the police is with the BJP (government). Whosoever will break the law, will face punishment. A total of 2,473 people have been arrested in connection with the Delhi riots so far, 409 have been charge-sheeted and only 83 people have got bail. It’s been two years, they are still in jail,” he said.
