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Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday, 14 August, denied that the BJP had undermined or compromised India’s secular identity, arguing that an impression to the contrary had been created by their opponents because of their political interests. “We are very clear, we do not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed, faith and language. That is the basic feeling of my party, my leader, Prime Minister and government.”
Mr Gadkari was speaking at a panel discussion to commemorate the launch of ‘India’s Vibgyor Man’ a collection of the writings and speeches of LM Singhvi (OUP, 2018).
The book’s release was accompanied by a speech from former President of India Pranab Mukherjee, who paid tribute to LM Singhvi, saying:
The launch event also paid tribute to Singhvi’s ability to reach across the aisle (he was part of the BJP, while his son is a prominent member of the Congress) with a panel discussion between politicians from a range of political affiliations, moderated by Karan Thapar.
Gadkari was joined by Congress MPs Anand Sharma and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, BJD MP Pinaki Mishra, SAD MP Naresh Gujral, TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi, and former MP Pavan Varma to discuss the topic:
During the course of the discussion, several panelists brought up the unease which had been created in the country under the current regime, especially for minorities, and the way in which breaches of the law like lynchings were taking place because the mobs felt they had immunity to do so.
“I think we are being a little oversimplistic in saying the fringe is responsible for these incidents. That is a way of avoiding the issue. I agree, that a large part of it is the fringe” said Singhvi.
“But when you have high officials, you have even ministers, MPs, you have officials at different levels of the party, people in constitutional positions, and then you have complete, eloquent silence and indeed at various levels and in various ways, a wink and a nod, that is the problem.”
The discussion stayed remarkably civil throughout despite the presence of members of so many different political parties, and the key takeaway for much of the evening was, in fact, Nitin Gadkari’s disarming charm and wit.
However, controversy arose during the Q&A session with the audience, when Gadkari was asked (as a riposte to his claim that the BJP did not in any way support the lynchings in the country) about the recent incident where Minister of State Jayant Sinha garlanded a number of men convicted for the lynching of Alimuddin Ansari in Jharkhand.
Gadkari initially tried to shrug off the question, calling it a case where the convicts took photos with Sinha, who didn’t know who they were.
Karan Thapar, however, pointed out that Sinha did not take photos with just any random members of the public, adding that these were recognised convicts, whom Sinha consciously garlanded at an event to honour them. “Surely you can’t excuse him on those grounds?” he asked.
Gadkari’s response raised more than a few eyebrows.
He then went on to say, “I believe we have to assess things according to democratic principles. We shouldn’t give such matters too much importance. If he’s wrong, society will take its anger out on him. Why are you so bothered about this?”
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