Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Danish Ali has said that the letter written by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is an effort to create a narrative for his lynching.
Danish's comment is related to the incident in the Lok Sabha on Thursday when BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri abused him with anti-Muslim slurs. Bidhuri called Danish "Muslim ugrawadi" (Muslim terrorist), "Bharwa" (pimp), and "katwa" (circumcised). While the BJP has expressed regrets over the statement and has issued a show-cause notice to Bhiduri, no action has been taken against him so far either in the party or by the Speaker.
Amid all-round condemnation of Bidhuri, including criticism from within the BJP, a number of BJP MPs have written to Speaker Birla to say that Danish was using derogatory words for Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the time that triggered Bhiduri. These purported comments, said these letters, were not captured in the microphone and were therefore not audible to everyone in the House. Dubey is among the MPs who has written such a letter.
Reacting to Dubey's letter, Ali said that his "verbal lynching" has already taken place in the House and the letter was an attempt to enable lynching outside the House.
"I have seen the letter of Nishikant Dubey. My verbal lynching has taken place in the House. Now, this [Dubey's letter] is a narrative for my lynching outside the House. I request the Speaker Sir that this should be investigated properly. This is a baseless allegation that should be investigated. This baseless allegation is a caase of breach of privileges against Nishikant Dubey," said Ali in Hindi to PTI.
After Bhiduri's remarks surfaced, Defence Minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh expressed regrets. BJP President JP Nadda also issued a show-cause notice to Bhiduri. However, no disciplinary action has taken place against him.
Amid criticism from within the party, some MPs including Dubey have written to the Lok Sabha Speaker alleging that Ali was using derogatory words against PM Modi. In his letter, Dubey wrote that there should be a probe against Ali for the usage of derogatory words. He alleged that, during Bhiduri's speech, Ali said "neech ko neech nahi kahenge to kya kahenge (if we don't called a lowlife a lowlife, what would we call him?)" against Modi. Earlier in 2018, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Manishankar Aiyar had called Modi "neech" that had created a political storm and attracted widespread critcism.
In his letter to Birla, Dubey wrote, "When Shri Danish Ali was busy instigating Shri Bidhuri with his intemperate comments, he made a highly objectionable and derogatory remark against our Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Jee. In his desperation to denigrate the ruling dispensation and Prime Minister's achievement of landing Chandrayaan3 on the moon, he screamed across the isle, without the microphone but could be clearly heard saying that 'neech ko neech nahi kahenge to kya kahenge'. This statement made by Shri Danish Ali, I think, was more than enough for any patriotic public representative to 'lose his calm' and it led to Shri Bhidhuri responding to him like he did."
Congress MP K Suresh, who was in the Chair at the time Bidhuri made the remarks, has written to Birla for the immediate suspension of Bidhuri for "behaving like a hatemonger in the hallowed halls of our democracy".
