Minister Jyoti Again: "Everyone is Rams Progeny, Those Who Don't Accept This, Don't Accept The Nation"

NEW DELHI: “Be they Muslims or Christians, they are all god Ram’s sanatan, and those who do not accept this will not accept the nation either,” said the defiant Union Minister Niranjan Jyoti adding insult to injury a few days after her remarks on “ramzada and haramzada’ rocked Parliament.

Jyoti was speaking to a television channel, and her defiance after a short lull, comes from the support she has received from the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has refused to concede the Opposition demand to sack her for violating the tenets of the Constitution of India. Three days of protest and repeated adjournments of both Houses of Parliament later, PM Modi made a statement in the Rajya Sabha and followed it with a similar statement in the Lok Sabha a day later. He said that Jyoti was a minister from a rural background, she had apologised and hence she should be forgiven and Parliament allowed to enact its business.

However, the minister who had apologised at the onset, was now in her remarks to television clearly defiant. She wanted to know why mentioning the name of Ram was communal, and went on to add, “Musalman go to their mosques to pray, Christians pray in their churches, we do not oppose this, so why cannot we use the name of Ram.” This feeds into the long term RSS propaganda that the majority is “discriminated” against in India and not allowed to practice their beliefs because of opposition from minority “appeasers.”

The BJP has also made it clear, after a defensive approach initially, that Jyoti will continue to campaign for the Delhi elections. And that as far as the government was concerned her apology for her offensive hate speech was sufficient action on the issue.

The Opposition continued the protest, with several members coming into Parliament with black badges. These were then used to gag the mouth in a silent protest demonstration near the statue of Gandhi for not being allowed to speak inside the Lok Sabha on this issue. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, “it is the mindset of the top leaders of the country that democratic conversation should not be allowed.” The BJP also gathered at the spot and sang Gandhi’s favourite bhajan “Raghupati Raghav Ram” in what the MPs said was in protest against the Opposition’s decision to stall the proceedings.

The Opposition that has a majority in the Rajya Sabha has been able to put the government on the defensive. It also targeted PM Modi for his silence. CP(M) leader Brinda Karat wrote in an article, “hate speech is a badge of honour for many who adorn the benches of Parliament. This is the BJP style.” And added, “It took Mr. Modi three days and repeated protests by a united opposition to make a statement in the two Houses of Parliament on the hate speech by his minister. This delay puzzled people, because Mr Modi likes to speak. The BJP and its friends claim this is good fortune in a country that had for ten years a Prime Minister unkindly described by BJP leaders as "Mauni baba" (silent sage). But many would say it is equally a problem when you have a Prime Minister who likes to speak, but remains silent when he should speak, or when you have a Prime Minister who likes to speak, but does not like to listen.”

Jyoti’s remark that sparked the outrage was, "People of Delhi have to decide if they want a government of Ramzaadon (followers of Ram) or a government of those who are illegitimate." This is one in a series of hate speech by BJP leaders through the Lok Sabha campaign till date.