Opposition demands apology from PM for minister's hate speech

Sticking to their demand for resignation of Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, opposition parties on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should express regret over the controversial remarks made by the Union minister.

The parties also demanded that an FIR should be lodged against the minister for her “uncultured” comments.

The PM appeared in the House after a long time. He was sitting there, he could have got up and expressed regret on this issue and condemned it,” senior Congress leader Kamal Nath told reporters outside Parliament.

He maintained that the statement of the minister has “hurt” the sentiments of secular minded people.

“The statement by the Bharatiya Janata Party minister has not only hurt the sentiments of a particular community, but all secular minded people. The apology by the minister was a confession on Tuesday,” Nath, a former Union Minister, said.

Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav said there should be “nothing less than resignation” on the issue.

“I am amazed at the statement of the government that the comments by the minister were made outside the House, but the issues we discuss the house are related to people’s interest.

“Unless the PM assures us that he will take action against her, we will not stay quiet,” Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ashwani Kumar said.

Lawyer and Nationalist Congress Party Rajya Sabha MP Majeed Memon said an FIR should be lodged against the minister under section 153 (A) of the Indian Penal Code (for promoting enmity against people on the grounds of religion, case, race, residence and language).

“The offence is non-compoundable and non-bailable. Till the time the minister does not resign, we will not allow the House to function,” he said.

Congress party national spokesman Meem Afzal said, "On one hand they (the Bharatiya Janata Party) say 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas' but on the other one of their ministers Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti utters such sentences which, I feel, are an abuse. They are an abuse to democracy and to the crores of those people, from different religions, who have a secular mindset. Though she has apologised, we know that such an apology is nothing. She should feel ashamed and resign."

Afzal said the BJP was parroting the slogan of 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas', but there was a “huge difference between what it says and what it does.”

“Giriraj Singh (now a Union Minister) had said (before the Lok Sabha elections) that those who do not vote for (the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra) Modi, should be sent to Pakistan. Does that mean about 69 per cent of the people, who did not vote for Modi, should go to Pakistan? Same Singh has been made a minister by Modi. There is a huge difference in their talking and doing,” said Afzal.

"It is not 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas'. The BJP wants 'sabka saath' but only their own vikaas (development) and which they are doing," he said.

The Congress leader said that the BJP wants to rule the country single-handedly and was actually talking about "democracy-free India" when it talked about freeing the country from Congress and various regional parties. 

In the wake of the controversy, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologise to the residents of Kashmir.

"Kashmir is a Muslim majority state and the prime minister who will hold a rally in Srinagar must apologise to the people of Kashmir as his cabinet colleague has used abusive language for people like us," Omar told reporters on the sidelines of an election rally here.

Asking the BJP as how the party now expects votes from the people of Kashmir when such derogatory words have been used for the people, he said "Modi should explain why no action was taken against the minister... and apologise."

Reacting to a question on the prime minister's upcoming election rally in Kashmir in which BJP has claimed that it expects the participation of more than one lakh people, Omar said, "The BJP has no dearth of money and they can offer food and arrange vehicles so it would not be a big deal to gather one lakh people from the entire Kashmir valley."

He said even separatist-turned-politician Sajad Lone can alone bring more than 20 to 30 thousand people to attend Modi's rally.

Jyoti had on Tuesday stoked a controversy by allegedly making communal remarks and using an expletive in an election rally here, leaving the BJP and the government embarrassed.