BJP leader and Narendra Modi’s close aide Amit Shah’s remarks about Azamgarh having become a base of terrorists evoked sharp reactions with political parties demanding the Election Commission to ban him.
While Congress hit out at Shah for carrying out a “communal campaign” and demanded action by the Election Commission, BSP supremo Mayawati demanded ban of Amit Shah’s entry in Uttar Pradesh. The Aligarh Muslim University Teachers’ Association (AMUTA) too took a lead demanding “reimpose” ban of Amit Shah for “vitiating the atmosphere by his communal rhetoric”.
The BJP, however, attempted damage control by saying that he meant to say that parties like the SP, the BSP and the Congress are creating fear in the minds of people for political gains without caring for development of the region.
During the course of the ongoing lok Sabha campaign, Shah, who is BJP’s in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, has already been banned once by the EC from electioneering for alleged hate speech last month before it was lifted by the poll body.
“Modi and Amit Shah have come back to communal campaign from development. They have forgotten involvement of Sanghi activists in Modasa bomb blast,” Congress leader Digvijay Singh said on micro-blogging site Twitter. Attacking Modi, he asked the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate to speak out on grants given by the Gujarat Government to NGOs run by Aseemanand and Pragya Singh, both accused in bomb blast cases.
While dubbing BJP candidate Ramakant Yadav as the “biggest terrorist” of Azamgarh, BSP supremo Mayawati said Gujarat can be termed as a “base of communalism” by the same parameter and demanded that the Election Commission ban his entry in Uttar Pradesh. She also took the opportunity demanding action against SP leader Abu Asim Azmi for this “DNA remark” at a meeting recently.
Samajwadi Party leader Mohd Azam Khan said the EC’s decision to lift ban on BJP Amit Shah will “strengthen communal forces and weaken democracy”. Former SP leader Kamal Faruqui condemned the comment of Shah for associating terrorism with a place or community.
President of All India Women Congress Shobha Oza said Shah is trying to polarise the whole elections and people like Amit Shah are incorrigible, Congress spokesman Meem Afzal demanded immediate arrest of Shah like Imran Masood, the Congress candidate from Saharanpur and wanted the poll panel put a countrywide ban on campaigning by the BJP leader accusing him of spreading communal tension.
While BJP in its damage control said Amit Shah statement meant there has been no development for the last 65 years in Azamgarh or any other part of the region. “Congress, Samajwadi Party and BSP go to Azamgarh and sympathise with militants but do not go to martyrs’ families. They do not want development but to create fear in the minds of the people for their political gains. This was the idea behind what Amit Shah had said,” BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said.