- Monday, May 13, 2024
Three parliamentarians — Pragya Thakur, Pravesh Sahib Singh Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri — who have often made headlines for controversial remarks against the minority community, were not picked to contest in the 2024 battle.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday (2) released its first list of candidates for the national elections likely to be held in April and May and while it featured some top names, including those of prime minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, there were also some key omissions that drew focus.
Three sitting parliamentarians — Pragya Thakur, Pravesh Sahib Singh Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri — were not nominated for the upcoming general polls.
All these three leaders have made the headlines for wrong reasons in the past. They have controversial remarks both outside and inside the parliament and going by the BJP’s decision to drop them ahead of the next election, there is no doubt that the Hindu nationalist party is not ready to take any chances in a battle against a joint opposition which have been forming steady alliances in various states despite periodic debacles.
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Pragya Thakur, a firebrand Hindu leader, has been replaced with Alok Sharma in her constituency of Bhopal in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. An accused in the Malegaon blasts in the state of Maharashtra in 2008, the 54-year-old Thakur has been found herself mired in several controversies since becoming the MP in 2019. While her nomination had sparked a huge row, she was seen playing sports after getting bail on health grounds. She also made remarks against the minority Muslim community.
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However, the biggest of them all was perhaps her calling Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, a “patriot”. Even Modi reacted to the remark saying it sent a wrong signal to the society and even though Thakur had sought an apology for her words, he would never forgive her fully. He had said this in an interview to a channel. Shah also distanced the BJP from Thakur’s remark saying the party had nothing to do with it.
Verma, who represented the West Delhi constituency and son of a former chief minister of Delhi, also was denied a ticket despite the fact that he has a strong support base. He is also known for making inciting remarks, like those he had made ahead of the state elections in Delhi in 2020.
The 46-year-old leader had mocked the Shaheen Bagh protest in Delhi, staged mainly by Muslim women against the passage of the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, saying it would be in an hour if the BJP came to power in Delhi, which did not happen. In 2022, he was in the news again, this time for giving a public boycott call allegedly against the Muslims.
Verma was replaced by Kamaljeet Sehrawat in the constituency.
South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri was the third sitting MP to miss the ticket for the next general election. In September last year, Bidhuri used Islamophobic slurs against an opposition counterpart Danish Ali inside the parliament when a special session was underway. The derogatory remarks were caught on camera and triggered a massive row. The accused MP had apologised but the BJP’s decision has shown that it was not enough.
He was replaced by another Bidhuri — Ramvir Singh Birdhuri — the leader of opposition in Delhi assembly.
One leader of the BJP told NDTV that winnability is a key factor when it comes to choosing candidates and many sitting MPs were found to be unpopular in their own constituencies.
The leader added that there was no doubt that leaders such as Thakur, Bidhuri and Verma embarrassed their own party with their statements. The denial of tickets to them also sends a message that decorum has to be maintained in public life.
Modi himself had also warned the party leaders on many occasions against making controversial remarks.
The BJP got rid of as many as 33 sitting MPs in its first list of candidates and picked either new candidates or those who have been members of the Rajya Sabha or Upper House of the parliament or had been former chief ministers of states.