 "After fuss, BJP does damage control")
In two days, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Shiv Sena ally had to apologise thrice for the conduct of leaders and members of Parliament (MP). BJP patriarchs L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, the original Hindutva icons, have led the way in mincing few words to criticise the conduct and comments of some leaders of their party and the Shiv Sena.
On Thursday, Joshi was the first from his party to slam the comments of K Laxman, BJP leader in the Telangana Assembly, on tennis player Sania Mirza being made the brand ambassador of Telangana. “If someone says this, it reflects their culture,” Joshi said, reacting to Laxman’s comment that the choice of Mirza as Telangana’s brand ambassador was wrong as she was “non-local” and “daughter-in-law” of Pakistan.
On Tuesday, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao appointed Mirza brand ambassador of the state and handed her a cheque of Rs 1 crore. To this, Laxman said Mirza was unfit to be the brand ambassador as she wasn’t born in Hyderabad but in Maharashtra and was married to a Pakistani cricketer, Shoaib Malik. It was after Joshi’s criticism that other BJP leaders such as Prakash Javadekar and Ravi Shankar Prasad came out in support of Mirza. “Sania Mirza is the pride of India. Sania Mirza has an international standing of her own… so, we have no objection,” Javadekar said. Prasad tweeted: “Sania Mirza is a proud daughter of India and has brought great glory to India in the field of sports.”
On Wednesday, Advani, along with Shahnawaz Hussain, termed as “wrong” last week’s incident at New Delhi’s New Maharashtra Sadan, where a Shiv Sena MP attempted to force feed a Muslim employee observing a fast. Other leaders, including Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, had either evaded or refused to answer the media’s questions on the incident.
In Parliament on Wednesday, the party suffered more embarrassment when Opposition MPs demanded an apology and a probe into the Maharashtra Sadan incident. BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri angrily charged into the Well of the Lok Sabha shouting: “This is Hindustan, not Pakistan.” Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu disapproved of Bidhuri’s conduct and asked him to apologise. Bidhuri apologised but said he did nothing wrong. More protests from the Opposition followed, with Naidu intervening yet again and making Bidhuri apologise unconditionally.
On the controversy over the BJP leader’s comments on suitability of Mirza becoming brand ambassador of Telangana, the 27-year-old sportswoman hit back, stating she would remain an Indian until the “end of her life”. Mirza tweeted her family’s roots in Hyderabad date back to more than a century, and that she strongly condemned attempts by any person to brand her an outsider. “It hurts me that so much precious time of prominent politicians and the media is being wasted on a petty issue like my being appointed the brand ambassador of my state of Telangana,” Mirza said. “I am married to Shoaib Malik, who is from Pakistan. I am an Indian, who will remain an Indian until the end of my life,” she said. However, BJP leader Laxman had support from an unlikely quarter. The Telangana unit of the Congress also described Mirza as unfit for the honour. “Sania does not fit into the brand image of Telangana and Hyderabad,” state Congress chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah said.
On Thursday, Joshi was the first from his party to slam the comments of K Laxman, BJP leader in the Telangana Assembly, on tennis player Sania Mirza being made the brand ambassador of Telangana. “If someone says this, it reflects their culture,” Joshi said, reacting to Laxman’s comment that the choice of Mirza as Telangana’s brand ambassador was wrong as she was “non-local” and “daughter-in-law” of Pakistan.
On Tuesday, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao appointed Mirza brand ambassador of the state and handed her a cheque of Rs 1 crore. To this, Laxman said Mirza was unfit to be the brand ambassador as she wasn’t born in Hyderabad but in Maharashtra and was married to a Pakistani cricketer, Shoaib Malik. It was after Joshi’s criticism that other BJP leaders such as Prakash Javadekar and Ravi Shankar Prasad came out in support of Mirza. “Sania Mirza is the pride of India. Sania Mirza has an international standing of her own… so, we have no objection,” Javadekar said. Prasad tweeted: “Sania Mirza is a proud daughter of India and has brought great glory to India in the field of sports.”
On Wednesday, Advani, along with Shahnawaz Hussain, termed as “wrong” last week’s incident at New Delhi’s New Maharashtra Sadan, where a Shiv Sena MP attempted to force feed a Muslim employee observing a fast. Other leaders, including Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, had either evaded or refused to answer the media’s questions on the incident.
In Parliament on Wednesday, the party suffered more embarrassment when Opposition MPs demanded an apology and a probe into the Maharashtra Sadan incident. BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri angrily charged into the Well of the Lok Sabha shouting: “This is Hindustan, not Pakistan.” Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu disapproved of Bidhuri’s conduct and asked him to apologise. Bidhuri apologised but said he did nothing wrong. More protests from the Opposition followed, with Naidu intervening yet again and making Bidhuri apologise unconditionally.
On the controversy over the BJP leader’s comments on suitability of Mirza becoming brand ambassador of Telangana, the 27-year-old sportswoman hit back, stating she would remain an Indian until the “end of her life”. Mirza tweeted her family’s roots in Hyderabad date back to more than a century, and that she strongly condemned attempts by any person to brand her an outsider. “It hurts me that so much precious time of prominent politicians and the media is being wasted on a petty issue like my being appointed the brand ambassador of my state of Telangana,” Mirza said. “I am married to Shoaib Malik, who is from Pakistan. I am an Indian, who will remain an Indian until the end of my life,” she said. However, BJP leader Laxman had support from an unlikely quarter. The Telangana unit of the Congress also described Mirza as unfit for the honour. “Sania does not fit into the brand image of Telangana and Hyderabad,” state Congress chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah said.