Ranchi: A BJP legislator has stoked a controversy by harping that he and his company would attack anyone spotted with beards and caps, an apparent reference to Muslims, near the temples. The Jharkhand Police and Minority Commission have taken note of the remarks made by the legislator, and Jharkhand State Minority Commission is also seized of the matter.
Shashi Bhushan Mehta, an MLA from Panki assembly constituency, was making these remarks in an undated video which had trickled out in the social media.
"If we see people with beards and caps (Muslims) around the temple, just like we have earlier said in the Legislative Assembly that if a person who eats cow meat is seen near or inside a temple, he will have to face the consequences. We will chase them and beat them, no matter what the outcome is. We don't care."
It is learnt that the video of the MLA is from a public meeting he attended during a foundation stone laying ceremony for a marriage hall in Panki assembly constituency on the occasion of Durga Puja.
He took aim at the Muslim community without naming them.
He claimed that such people have been trying to cause disruption by participating in the religious programmes of the Hindus. "They hurt our Hindu sentiments. This will never be tolerated at any cost."
We have raised this issue in the Assembly, we will also raise it on the streets. He accused the Muslims of having tried to disturb the Jagran Rath taken out by Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal on October 3, the MLA said.
Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha have strongly condemned the message given out by Mehta. Jharkhand Congress unit in a statement described the remarks as disturbing communal harmony. The State Minority Commission too has taken cognizance of this statement and the Commission is expected to take action soon.
Palamu Superintendent of Police Reeshma Ramesan said she was aware of the video which is being widely shared in video sharing platforms. We are in the process of verifying the speech. However, we have not received any complaint on the video statement circulated on social media.
On Dec. 20, 2019, the then BJP candidate was acquitted from the May 11, 2012 murder of a teacher at Mehta’s school. Suchitra Mishra, a widow, who had joined as a Hindi teacher at Mehta’s Oxford Public School in Ranchi in 2008, was killed about 4 years later. Her post-mortem revealed that she was pregnant. Back then, Mehta along with five others- Rajnath Singh, Pradeep Kumar Paswan, Dharmendra Thakur, Anup Singh and Satya Prakash, were arrested.
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