3 days after arrest for ‘breach of peace’, expelled Bikaner BJP leader Usman Gani gets bail

On Saturday, Bikaner police said it had “detained” BJP’s former Bikaner minority cell president for “breach of peace,” days after he criticised the remarks made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara.

Speaking to a News24 journalist, Gani had said that being a Muslim, he was disappointed at what the Prime Minister had said. Gani had said that when he “goes to Muslims to seek votes” for the BJP, the people of the community ask him for answers on the remarks of the PM.

Addressing an election rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara on April 21, the PM had said, “Pehle jab unki (Congress) sarkar thi, unhone kaha tha ki desh ki sampati par pehla adhikar Musalmano ka hai. Iska matlab, ye sampati ikatthi karke kisko baatenge? Jinke zyada bacche hain, unko baatenge, ghuspaithiyon ko baatenge. Kya aapki mehnat ki kamayi ka paisa ghuspaithiyon ko diya jayega? Aapko manzoor hai yeh? (Earlier, when they (the Congress) was in power, they had said Muslims have the first right to the wealth of the nation. This means they will distribute this wealth to those who have more children, to intruders. Should your hard-earned money be given to infiltrators? Do you agree with this?”

According to Dhirendra Shekhawat, SHO of Mukta Prasad Nagar police station, a police vehicle had been sent, as a precautionary measure, to Gani’s locality on the day he criticised the PM’s remarks. Gani was in Delhi and after returning to Bikaner, he went to the police station around noon on Saturday and “and asked us how dare we send a vehicle to his home,” said the SHO, who claimed that Gani also tussled with the police. However, those close to Gani had denied the police claims.

While Gani was expelled from the BJP for six years over his remarks against the PM, his arrest has sent a chilling effect among his relatives and party functionaries, most of whom have refused to speak on Gani or the police action against him.