After a video of former Uttarakhand cabinet minister and BJP MLA Bansidhar Bhagat making bizarre comments on Hindu deities was shared widely, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday slammed the saffron unit. Calling the remarks “shameful”, the AAP said those from the BJP have “crossed all limits”.
The incident happened on Tuesday, which marked the International Day of Girl Child. In the video, Bhagat, an MLA from Kaladhungi, was heard advising students to “woo” Goddess Lakshmi for wealth, Saraswati for education and Durga for power. Speaking in Hindi at an event in Haldwani, the BJP MLA used the word ‘patao’ for the goddesses as he shared the “mantra of success”.
“God has…come to your aid…If you want to ask for intelligence, then woo Saraswati; if you want power, Durga can be pleased; and if you ask for money, then woo Lakshmi. What does the man have?” he asked at the event, which saw the attendance of women and students.
He said that that Lord Shiva lives in the Himalayas and Lord Vishnu is hiding in the depths of the sea, adding the two deities “do not speak to each other”. “What does a man have?” Bhagat asked.
Taking to Twitter, the AAP reacted sharply to the comments. In a post in Hindi, the party said that the BJP MLA made “crass jokes” on Lord Shiva-Vishnu and Goddesses Saraswati-Lakshmi in a “crowd of thousands”.
{{/usCountry}}Taking to Twitter, the AAP reacted sharply to the comments. In a post in Hindi, the party said that the BJP MLA made “crass jokes” on Lord Shiva-Vishnu and Goddesses Saraswati-Lakshmi in a “crowd of thousands”.
{{/usCountry}}“Those from the BJP have crossed all limits. The people of the country will not tolerate this at all,” the tweet read.
AAP leader Rajendra Pal Gautam, who on Sunday (October 9) resigned as Delhi's social welfare minister following a political controversy over him attending a religious conversion event in Delhi wherein hundreds denounced Hinduism and adopted Buddhism, criticised the BJP and asked if the saffron unit's top leadership will “take action” against such people.
AAP national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh also lashed out at Bhagat, terming his remarks an “insult” to the goddesses. “Entire BJP is silent,” Singh tweeted in Hindi.