‘Bring Muslim girls, get job’: Former BJP MLA sparks outrage; he says ‘necessary to send message’

“Jo leke aayega, usko naukri, roji roti bhi dilayange (Whosoever brings them, they would be given a job and their livelihood would be taken care of),” Singh is heard saying.

After his video went viral, the Opposition demanded strict action against him for his “anti-women” and “communal remarks”.

BSP chief Mayawati condemned Singh’s remarks and asked the BJP government to take strict legal action against them instead of providing him “protection”.

“The narrow minded statement “bring a Muslim girl, get a job” along with the poisonous and violent game going on by mischievous elements in UP, Uttarakhand, as well as other states in the name of religious conversion, Love Jihad, and taking the law in their hands to spread communal and casteist hatred… leading to threat to life of people, their property and faith… is highly condemnable,” said Mayawati.

“Such criminal… anti-social elements pose an open challenge and threat to a civilized and threat to civilized and constitutional government. Instead of providing them support and protection, the government should take strict legal action against such people,” she said, adding that legal action is necessary in the interest of millions of people in the state.
Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav said, “It is a very irresponsible statement. Such statements are often made by BJP leaders. The way BJP leaders are constantly giving statements against women, it reflects on the anti-women psychology of the party and its leaders.”

The Congress, in a statement, said: “Spreading hatred in the name of religion, dividing society, and misleading unemployed youth – this has become the real politics of the BJP. When it becomes difficult to answer questions on issues of employment, education, and inflation, BJP leaders resort to injecting religious venom to polish their politics of power.”

Meanwhile, speaking to The Indian Express, Singh said, “The context of my statement should be looked into before criticizing me. It is a village with over 65 per cent Muslim population, and there have been instances of Hindu girls being lured by Muslim boys. Recently, there was also an incident of a Dalit being beaten up by Muslims. Therefore, I decided to hold a public meeting in that village. Such is their fear that people were afraid to come to my meeting. So, I had to send the message that anyone harming Hindus and their daughters would see the same fate.”

The BJP, however, distanced itself from Singh’s remarks and said the event was not an official party meeting. “There was no such official event of the party in the district, so I am not aware of any such event or any such statement,” Kanhaiya Paswan, the BJP’s Sidharthanagar district unit chief, told The Indian Express.

Singh had won from Domariyaganj in Sidharthanagar district in the 2017 Assembly polls on a BJP ticket. In the 2022 Assembly elections, he lost to SP’s Saiyada Khatoon by 771 votes.

Since 1996, Domariyaganj has been represented by a Muslim MLA, except in 2017, when Singh had defeated Saiyada Khatoon, then a BSP candidate, by about 1,600 votes.