Church fire an ‘attack’ on Christians, no space for mischief at places of worship: Giriraj

Parish members have alleged that the fire was deliberately started with kerosene.

Union Minister Giriraj Singh garlands a Muslim man during his rally in Seemapuri in Northeast Delhi on Tuesday. (Source: Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

One of the BJP’s masters of controversy on Tuesday addressed a campaign rally in the neighbourhood where the burning of a church had left the city’s Christians distressed.

But there were words of reconciliation this time. Union Minister Giriraj Singh, who was speaking at a campaigning event, lamented the fire incident. He began addressing the rally by speaking about the fire. “What happened at the church was an attack… (“Church ke upar… ise hum humla hi kehte hain) . I criticise this. There is no space for any sort of mischief at places of worship,” he said.

On Monday, a portion of the St Sebastian Church in Dilshad Garden was destroyed after a fire broke out. Parish members have alleged that the fire was deliberately started with kerosene.

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They mobbed around the front gate of the headquarters, which the Delhi Police cordoned off. Source: Express photo by Ravi Kanojia)

The minister from Bihar, who had made controversial statements on Monday, said he was secular and he believed in everybody’s freedom to practise their religion. “But I am anti-appeasement. The Congress government in the past years has, in the name of secularism, carried out their politics of appeasement. This is harmful for the country,” he said.

He alleged that his statements are consistently “misinterpreted by the media” and as a result he couldn’t take names. “Naam nahi lunga, bolenge rakshas se tulna kar di (I won’t take names, they’ll say I compared them with demons).”

Representative of church at the protest site. (Source: Krishna Vamsi)

On Monday, he had recalled a story from his village where he compared Arvind Kejriwal to Maarich (a mythical character who could disguise himself). “We used to have Ramlilas in our village. A youth once demanded that he be given a chance to play Hanuman’s role. He had no experience. And he ran away from the stage. Kejriwal wohi nakli Hanuman hai. Kejriwal un rakshasho mein bhi Maarich hai, jo vesh badalta hai par kabhi na kabhi pakda jata hai.”

At Seemapuri on Tuesday, he repeated the same story. But without mentioning Kejriwal by name or making any direct reference to Maarich. Instead, he said, “Kejriwal also ran away from the stage. He went back to sitting on dharnas with Anna Hazare.”

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The alter of the St Sebastian Church was completely gutted on Monday. (Source: Express photo by Ravi Kanojia)

Claiming that “acche din” had come, Singh promised those attending the rally that development would take place in their constituency if they voted for the BJP. He claimed that the BJP government had successfully curbed price rise, controlled the price of fuel and was bringing development to the country. His speech was studded with repeated references to PM Narendra Modi. “After Swami Vivekananda’s speech in Chicago, it’s only Modi who has brought us such pride abroad,” Singh said.

He ended by warning people of being careful of behrupiyas while reiterating that he wouldn’t take any names. “Behrupiyas are Narada one day and Ravana the next day. Be careful of them in Delhi’s politics.”

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