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Courtesy EC, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma removed as BJP's star-campaigners

Courtesy EC, Anurag Thakur, Parvesh Verma removed as BJP's star-campaigners

By Shalini Ojha
Jan 29, 2020
06:18 pm
What's the story

Two leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Singh Verma, have been removed as star-campaigners on the order of Election Commission for giving controversial speeches. While Union Minister Thakur called for shooting "traitors", Verma, who is West Delhi's Lok Sabha representative, compared protesters of Shaheen Bagh with rapists. Both were served notices by the top polling body.

Context

With Delhi elections round the corner, politicians are keeping busy

Campaigning for the Delhi polls of February 8 are underway in full swing. This also means politicians are keeping newsrooms busy with their contentious remarks. Notably, BJP is dedicating a lot of its time to Shaheen Bagh, where a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has been going for more than a month. BJP has largely painted CAA critics as "anti-nationals".

Thakur's speech

So, what exactly did Thakur do to get penalized?

Thakur, who holds the prestigious Minister of State post in the Finance Ministry, was campaigning in Rithala when he made an inflammatory speech. He prompted the gathering to finish the slogan "Desh ke gaddaron ko", with "Goli maaron sa***n ko". After the clip went viral, evoking ire from almost everyone, Thakur asked people to judge the "mood of the national capital".

Twitter Post

A Union Minister forgot the dignity of his post

Support

Controversy sparked, but a Karnataka minister supported Thakur

The 45-year-old received fury from opposition leaders like Priyanka Chaturvedi, but a minister from Karnataka lent support. CT Ravi, a minister in BS Yediyurappa's government, said "anti-nationals" must be served "bullets" and not "biryani". "Those attacking Union MoS Anurag Thakur for his statement against traitors are the ones who opposed death to terrorists Ajmal Kasab and Yakub Memon, (sic)" he tweeted.

Twitter Post

Anti-nationals should get 'bullet' not 'biryani': Ravi

Statement

Separately, Owaisi asked Thakur to "choose a place"

Wading into the controversy, AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi asked Anurag to "choose a place". Owaisi, another staunch critic of CAA, said, "I challenge you, Anurag Thakur, to pick a place in India where you will shoot me and I'm ready to come there. Your statements won't create fear in my heart because our mothers and sisters have come out in large numbers on the roads."

Hate speech

Parvesh equated protesters with rapists, asked Delhi to choose "wisely"

Like Thakur, Parvesh also crossed limits of decency when he compared protesters with rapists. Making a case for BJP, he claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah can "save" Delhi residents today, but not tomorrow. Earlier, he also claimed BJP will clear Shaheen Bagh within an hour, if it wins Delhi, and promised to demolish mosques built on government land.

Decision

They can still campaign, but there are some restrictions

EC's decision to drop Thakur and Parvesh as star-campaigners doesn't mean they can't seek votes. They can still do so, however, their expenses will be included in the candidate's limit, which is roughly between Rs. 28 and 30 lakh. Star-campaigners are exempt from candidates' expenditures. For the assembly polls, BJP selected 40 star-campaigners, including PM Modi, Shah, actor-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari, and cricketer-turned-parliamentarian Gautam Gambhir.

Twitter Post

You can read EC's order here