Hyderabad: The Supreme Court has had harsh words to say on the BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. They have said that she “is single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country” and that “she must apologise to the country”, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said.
He was reacting to the oral observations of the Supreme Court on Nupur Sharma, through a string of tweets, while also advocating for peace and hoping that the Apex court would also take cognisance on the flimsy reason behind the arrest of fact checker and journalist Mohammed Zubair.
“What if she is the spokesperson of a party. She thinks she has back-up power and (can) make any statement without respect to the law of the land,” Yechury said quoting the Supreme Court. It is a severe indictment of not Sharma’s views alone but of the misuse of authority the BJP exercises, he said.
It is an indictment of the divisiveness BJP promotes and the hate its leaders and trolls consistently fan, putting our country at great risk. It is the BJP that should also apologise and pledge to not indulge in further acts which are anti-Indian, unpatriotic and divisive, Yechury argued.
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We hope that beyond words, if according to the Supreme Court, Sharma is responsible for starting the hate spiral and most recent reprehensible cycle of violence, she will be proceeded upon as per law. BJP has suspended her only as of now, under international pressure, the CPI(M) leader asserted.
"But if the law does not act against her and others like her promoted by the party, who sow discord, separatism and damage India, the wrong message would go out. We would find many more like her mushrooming from the RSS/BJP’s hate factory and on vitriolic TV debates," he said.
He added, "We were hoping that the Supreme Court will take cognisance of the fact that a fact checker, journalist Mohammed Zubair has been jailed for the flimsiest of reasons, on the prompting of a dubious handle that has now vanished. Police under BJP, only because he pointed out Sharma’s hate-speech has victimised him."
Pointing out that Zubair should not have been in jail at all, Yechury suggested that the journalist should have been encouraged to continue his work as a diligent fact-checker to help counter the polarised, divisive world RSS/BJP has been desperate to shape. "We appeal to all to work for peace, stand firm and oppose voices that divide, provoke," he added.
"We, as political parties and citizens must do our best to ensure that justice is done. No more lives must be lost to communal hate," Yechury appealed while pointing out, "There are no winners here. India is hurt by fanning divides."
