Days after the BJP formed its first government in West Bengal under chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, a speech by BJP MLA Ritesh Tiwari has sparked outrage online.
“In these 74 years of elections in West Bengal, I am most likely the first MLA from this constituency who has not received a single vote from a Muslim. Therefore, only those who have voted for me have the right to me. We didn't go to ask for votes from those who did not vote for us,” Tiwari says in the viral video.
“Today, in front of Baba Bholenath, I swear, I will not do one job for them (Muslims) in the next five years. Will not issue any certificate for them. I am saying this live. I do not care about what anyone else says or thinks. Modiji says, ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas’. I agree with him; he is my leader. But during this election, he added another phrase to it: ‘Sabka Hisaab’. That is how it should be, right?” he adds.
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Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas”, he adds, “But during this election, he added another phrase to it: ‘Sabka Hisaab’.”
Tiwari won the Kashipur-Belgachia seat in the recently held assembly elections by defeating Trinamool Congress heavyweight Atin Ghosh by 1,651 votes. In both 2016 and 2021 assembly polls, Trinamool Congress had won the seat with huge margins.
'Trinamool Sought to Establish Islamic Rule'
We found the full live recording of Ritesh Tiwari’s speech on his official Facebook page, where it was posted on May 11. The 20-minute video begins with supporters garlanding Tiwari before he takes the stage. He starts speaking at the 4:48-minute mark.
The viral portion of the speech begins at the 15:44-minute mark. As Tiwari says he would not work for Muslims, the crowd can be heard applauding loudly.
During the speech, Tiwari invokes the 'Love Jihad' conspiracy theory and says women should be taught from childhood not to enter Muslim households. He also claims that those carrying Trinamool Congress flags wanted to establish “Islamic rule” in West Bengal.
At the 8:35-minute mark, Tiwari says: “This was not just another election. This state has been witnessing elections since 1952. And today's youth who are aged 18 and above... You should start learning about how demography is changing. What is demographic change? It's not just economic or gender disparity. Economic disparity can be addressed in the coming times. And gender discrimination, which used to exist, society has awakened and abolished that; the number of female foeticides has gone down. I am a father of two daughters and have no regret about not having a son... We have received independence from gender discrimination. But now it's time to move our focus to demographic change, the way our daughters and sisters are being lured into relationships with false promises of love, with the help of technology, the way these jihadis are attacking, the women need to become more aware about these things.”
He continues: “We need to identify the main issue, that no woman should go into a Muslim's house, but people don't say that, as they are scared. And we can't stop this from happening, hence, now is the time to talk about it openly, to start building confidence and to make them aware of these issues since childhood... (Before elections) when I used to see those people sitting there with Trinamool's flags, they weren't some special people, they weren't descendants of Anwar Khan, or had any royal lineage, they were people like you and me. And who were they standing with? They were waving flags of those who want to bring Islamic rule to West Bengal... In the past five years, the people who tortured you while waving Trinamool flags, it is now time to identify them all and boycott them socially.”
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Ex-VP Hamid Ansari Slams Tiwari's Comments
In an interview with Karan Thapar on The Wire, former vice-president Hamid Ansari criticized Tiwari's comments and described them as unconstitutional and against the ethos of democracy.
Ansari said, “If that is the prevailing ideology of the winning party then it’s a very unfortunate comment on the system we pretend to operate… we pretend to be a democracy, we pretend to swear by a Constitution and the first page of that Constitution, which is the Preamble, has certain basic principles spelt out there. Does this statement of his conform to any of those principles?”
“If you swear by the Constitution which we swear by, if you swear by the Preamble which we swear by, then you cannot draw a distinction between one citizen and another citizen.”
He added, “Are you going to ignore 15% of your population? Is that what you mean by fraternity? Is that what you mean by the last word of the Preamble?... Can a political party seriously say that it does not care for 15% of its population? It cannot do that … the Muslims are the biggest minority in the country and together with other minorities, Christians, Sikhs and others, they constitute 20% of the population of India which means one-fifth of the population. You cannot operate democracy on that basis (of ignoring them). You can operate any other form of governance but not a democracy.”
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