Under fire from opposition, Bihar BJP chief Nityanand Rai says comment was misinterpreted
A day after BJP’s Bihar President Nityanand Rai kicked off a political storm by asking party members to chop off the hands or fingers raised to question Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rai claimed to have been “misinterpreted” and “regretted” the statement.
At a function in Patna on Monday, Rai had praised Modi’s policies such as demonetization and GST and his rise from being a son of the poor to become the PM, and said, “Unki ore uthne waali ungli ko, uthne waale haath ko, hum sab milkar, ya to tod dein, zaroorat pari to haath ko kaat dein… (We should break every finger, every hand raised against him, if need be, then we should even cut it).”
Rai, the BJP MP from Ujiarpur who was handpicked the state chief last December, was speaking in the presence of party’s top brass including Sushil Kumar Modi, the deputy CM of Bihar, and ministers Mangal Pandey, Nand Kishore Yadav and Suresh Sharma.
In his defence, Rai clarified his stand, saying he had used the terms “ungli todna” and “haath kaatna” as an idiom and not literally. “My statement has been interpreted in a wrong meaning. The words I used were merely in proverbial sense. My comment was in context of support and cooperation for a positive and pro-development leadership..”
He added, “I express regret if anyone’s sentiments were hurt by my comments. In democracy, we believe in accepting all agreement or disagreements with equanimity.” Rai explained that he meant those who rise against the country’s honour and security will be dealt with strongly.
The RJD-led Opposition, however, was quick to target Rai over the controversial remark and RJD spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav compared him with Mughal emperor Shah Jahan who chopped of the hands of masons who built Taj Mahal and term it a “dictatorial mindset”.
RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha took a dig at Rai saying, “Rai says he has used the words in their idiomatic sense. I am still searching for the grammar book which has these idioms.”
Congress Bihar President Kaukab Quadri too condemned the comment.
STORMY STATEMENT
- At a function in Patna on Monday, Rai had praised Modi’s policies such as demonetization and GST and his rise from being a son of the poor to become the PM, and said, “Unki ore uthne waali ungli ko, uthne waale haath ko, hum sab milkar, ya to tod dein, zaroorat pari to haath ko kaat dein…
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