The new beginnings made in the new Parliament during a special session, in which a historic piece of legislation was passed, were stained late evening in Lok Sabha on Thursday. A video has captured BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri hurling communal slurs and abuse at a fellow MP, Danish Ali of the BSP, in the House, repeatedly. On full display for the nation is the ugliness of language and meaning, unvarnished bigotry and prejudice, appalling hate speech by an elected representative on the floor of the House. It is also a grave insult. Bidhuri’s tirade insulted not his intended target, a “Muslim” MP, but the institution of Parliament itself, and the trust of those who voted for him and empowered him to speak as their elected representative. The day after, therefore, it is not enough that his remarks have been expunged from parliamentary records or that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has warned Bidhuri against a repeat performance, or that a senior minister, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, has expressed regret. His party, the BJP, which has sent him a show cause notice, must consider whether it wants on board a leader who gives the lie to its claims of “sabka saath… sabka vishwas”, so flagrantly. In this Lok Sabha, MPs of non-BJP parties have been suspended on far thinner grounds, for much smaller violations. The Honourable Speaker needs to listen to that clip again and again.
Bidhuri’s hate speech also touches off a deeper set of worries. Ever since the BJP-led government came to power at the Centre, these concerns have raised their head from time to time, and demanded a wider reckoning. They have to do with the climate of apparent impunity for minority-baiting and worse by those who belong to the ruling establishment, or are seen to be patronised and protected by it. Hearing after hearing, the Supreme Court has warned, advised, appealed, sought answers and explanations. Yet, too often, at the highest echelons of power, assertions of outright prejudice by those they call their own, have been met with a blind eye and/or a deaf ear. This draws unflattering attention, too, to the vigorous projection of India as an exemplar, abroad, of a diverse and inclusive democracy.
The BJP can no more turn away from the question Bidhuri has now resurrected and posed more starkly: Are there any political penalties for the kind of hate speech he made in the nation’s highest forum of debate — or will he, too, get away with it? If government and politics is not just about the moment and the day, but also about memory and record, if it casts a longer shadow, the BJP must know that it can ill afford to remain silent. It must speak clearly to distance itself from Bidhuri, make an example of him. That will be the most effective way to underline that there is no place for hate in the string of recent successes that its government has presided over, which celebrate representation and excellence, from the Women’s Reservation Bill to Chandrayaan-3.
