Bihar BJP leader quits over Manipur, says 'PM is sleeping'

A political activist in Bihar on Thursday put up a poster announcing his resignation from 'all posts in the Bharatiya Janata Party' in protest against the ethnic strife in Manipur.

Vinod Sharma, who identified himself as a spokesman cum media panelist of the BJP, also shared with the press copies of his resignation letter addressed to the party's national president J P Nadda.

However, state BJP spokesperson Arvind Kumar Singh asserted that Sharma, who had joined BJP four years ago, 'never became an active member'.

"Anybody can become a primary member of the party by giving a missed call. Only those are considered active members who go a step further and deposit the membership fee. I challenge Sharma to show his membership slip," Singh told PTI.

He pointed out that Sharma's name did not figure in the party's authorised list of spokespersons and media panelists.

Interestingly, Sharma was last in the news in the thick of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when he had announced his resignation from the Congress over Rahul Gandhi's stance on Pulwama terror strike.

On Thursday, Sharma said that Manipur-like incident has never happened anywhere else while adding that the 'prime minister is still sleeping'.

Sharma said that 'with a heavy heart', he wrote to BJP chief J P Nadda and Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the Manipur video incident.

"With a heavy heart, I wrote to JP Nadda and PM Modi that an incident like that in the Manipur video has never happened anywhere else. Still, the PM is sleeping, he doesn't have the courage to sack CM Biren Singh...," Sharma told ANI.

He further said that he has raised his voice against the women atrocities and resigned from the party.

He said, "BJP speaks about Nari Sakhti, Beti Bachao, Hindu Rashtra, Sanatana Dharm... Is this the Sanatana Dharma we're upholding? As a human being, I couldn't tolerate this and raised my voice against this injustice..."

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United chuckled at the development.

"The resignation of senior spokesman Vinod Sharma shows cracks appearing in the BJP's rank and file as a result of the Narendra Modi government's mishandling of the Manipur issue," JD-U state unit chief Umesh Singh Kushwaha said in a statement.

-- with ANI inputs