Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha member Anil Bonde has made a controversial statement saying that Rahul Gandhi’s tongue should be cut off because what he has said about reservation is “dangerous”. Opposition parties criticized this controversial comment of Anil Bonde. Bonde made this comment after the statement of Shiv Sena MLA from Buldhana Sanjay Gaikwad in which he announced a reward of Rs 11 lakh to the person who cuts Rahul Gandhi’s tongue for his statement on reservation.
During his recent visit to the US, Rahul Gandhi had told students at Georgetown University that the Congress would think about ending reservation only when everyone in the country starts getting equal opportunities. He had said, “At present, such a situation does not exist in India.” Reacting to Gaikwad’s statement about cutting Rahul Gandhi’s tongue, BJP leader Bonde said in Maharashtra’s Amravati on Tuesday, “The language of cutting the tongue is not appropriate but what Rahul ji said against reservation is dangerous.”
He said, “So if someone says anything absurd abroad, his tongue should be branded instead of being cut. It is necessary to brand the tongue of such people, whether it is Rahul Gandhi, Gyanesh Maharao or Shyam Manav or even those who hurt the sentiments of the Bahujans and the majority.”
Writer Maharao has recently been accused of making derogatory remarks on Hindu deities, while Manav is an anti-superstition activist. Opposition parties strongly criticized Bonde’s remarks. The MP did not get support from his own party BJP for this statement. Maharashtra unit president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that he does not support the statements of Bonde and Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad against Rahul Gandhi. However, he also said that Rahul Gandhi should refrain from making “anti-India statements” and he should clarify his stand on the issue of reservation.
Bawankule said, “I do not support the statements made by Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad and BJP Rajya Sabha member Anil Bonde. They should refrain from making such statements in future.” Gaikwad had stirred up a controversy by announcing a reward of Rs 11 lakh to anyone who cuts off Rahul Gandhi’s tongue for his comments on reservation, while Bonde said the Congress leader’s tongue should be branded.
Meanwhile, several Congress leaders and workers staged a protest outside the Amravati Police Commissionerate demanding action against Bonde. Congress workers including Amravati MP Balwant Wankhede, Amravati MLA Yashomati Thakur and former minister Sunil Deshmukh joined the protest. They demanded that a case should be registered against Bonde for his remarks.