Salman Khurshid sparks row saying ‘Bangladesh can happen here’; BJP dubs him ‘anarchist’

Uddhav Thackeray says developments in neighbouring country show “people are supreme” and advises politicians not to “test their patience”

Former Union minister and Congress leader Salman Khurshid. (File Photo)

Former Union minister and Congress leader Salman Khurshid’s remark that a “Bangladesh-type situation could happen in India” has triggered a row, with the BJP Wednesday terming it as “anarchist” while accusing the Congress of “trying to destabilise the country”.

“Facing losses three times in a row, the Congress wants to push the country into a state of anarchy… They can do anything to take the country back in time… Such statements by Congress leaders show the mentality of the party and its leaders… I want to ask the Congress if they agree with Khurshid’s statement,” BJP MP Anurag Thakur said.

Speaking at the launch of academic Mujibur Rehman’s book ‘Shikwa-e-Hind: The Political Future of Indian Muslims’, Khurshid had said, “Everything may look normal in Kashmir. Everything may look normal here (in Delhi, after the poll results)… The fact remains that under the surface, there is something. What’s happening in Bangladesh can happen here… The spread of our country prevents things from blowing up in the manner in which they have blown up in Bangladesh.”

Other BJP leaders too slammed the Congress and Khurshid. While BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the remarks amount to “a kind of sedition”, his Lok Sabha and party colleague Sambit Patra called them “a warning given on the behalf of the Congress”. “Other Congress leaders were present at the event, in a way supporting what he said. Even Rahul Gandhi used to say there would be riots in the country and the Prime Minister would be attacked. Why was he saying this? Does he want the same thing (like Bangladesh) in India? The Congress’s conspiracy has been exposed,” Patra said.

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Asked about Khurshid’s remarks, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said: “You’ll have to ask him exactly what he meant, it is not my job to comment on the comments of others. The larger message that the Bangladesh experience has given is the importance of democracy, of free and fair elections, transparency, engaging people in the system, making sure all institutions of democracy function fairly. When that happens, there will be much less cause for this kind of thing to occur.”

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray also spoke about the developments in Bangladesh, saying that they showed that the people are supreme. “No politician should test their patience. If you do, then what a people’s court can do was seen in Bangladesh. People’s court is supreme. The people’s court has given a ruling in Bangladesh,” he said.

He also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that if he could “stop the war in Ukraine”, he should take similar steps to ensure peace in Bangladesh and “save the Hindus there”. Meanwhile, Thackeray said, Manipur was simmering even as Hindus were being killed in Kashmir.

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