Soon after the BJP on Sunday, June 5, suspended its national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal as the row over their alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad escalated with protests from some Muslim countries, TRS Working President KT Rama Rao demanded it suspend its Telangana chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
"If the BJP truly respects all religions equally, should you also not suspend the Telangana BJP chief who made an open public statement wanting to dig up all the mosques & impose a ban on Urdu?" tweeted the Telangana minister. "Why this selective treatment JP Nadda Ji? Any clarification?," KTR asked BJP President JP Nadda.
Bandi Sanjay, who is also a Member of Parliament from Karimnagar, had recently suggested that mosques should be dug up across Telangana, and if “shavam (dead bodies)” were found, Muslims could keep the mosque while if a “shivam (shiva linga)” was found, it had to be handed over to Hindus. He made the remarks while addressing a gathering at a 'Hindu Ekta Yatra' in Karimnagar on May 25, on the occasion of 'Hanuman Jayanti'.
If the BJP truly respects all religions equally, should you also not suspend Telangana BJP chief who made an open public statement wanting to dig up all the mosques & impose a ban on Urdu?
— KTR (@KTRTRS) June 5, 2022
Why this selective treatment @JPNadda Ji? Any clarification? https://t.co/6tqMLWSW3w
Read:
Bandi Sanjay has also stated that if the BJP comes to power in Telangana, it will abolish all madrasas, do away with reservations for Muslims and remove Urdu as the second official language.
In a later tweet, KTR addressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said, “PM Narendra Modi Ji, Why should India as a country apologise to international community for the hate speeches of BJP bigots? It is BJP that should apologise; not India as a Nation. Your party should first apologise to Indians at home for spewing & spreading hatred day in day out.” He also criticised the “tacit support” from those in powerful positions to such speeches and said, “Let me remind you sir; What you permit is what you promote.”
Modi Ji, Your silence was deafening & shocking when BJP MP Pragya Singh hailed assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
— KTR (@KTRTRS) June 6, 2022
Let me remind you sir; What you permit is what you promote
The tacit support from top is what emboldened the bigotry & hatred that will cause irreparable loss to pic.twitter.com/VSgHd6P2Hh
As the controversy surrounding the two BJP spokespersons’ contentious remarks against Prophet Mohammed snowballed, the party was condemned first by Qatar and then three other Gulf countries — Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The three countries slammed the remarks and issued summons to the Indian envoys regarding the issue on Sunday, June 5. Seeking to defuse a diplomatic row, spokespersons of the Indian Embassy in Qatar and Kuwait said that the Ambassadors "conveyed that the tweets do not, in any manner, reflect the views of the Government of India. These are the views of fringe elements."
With PTI and IANS inputs