Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sandeep Dayma was on Sunday expelled from the party for his remarks from last week about mosques and gurdwaras.
The BJP said that he made statements “contrary to the party’s ideology”.
On November 1, Dayma had said that mosques and gurdwaras in the town of Tijara had become “ulcers” and should be uprooted. He made the remarks while campaigning for Balak Nath, the BJP candidate from the Tijara constituency in Rajasthan. Assembly polls will be held in Rajasthan on November 25.
“See how many mosques, gurdwaras have been built here,” Dayma said. “This will become an ulcer for us in the future. That is why it’s our duty that this ulcer be uprooted and thrown out...”
The remarks faced backlash from members of the Sikh community and party leader and former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who demanded that Dayma be expelled. “Nobody should be allowed to get away with a mere apology after provocative hate speeches,” Singh had said in a tweet.
BJP Punjab chief Sunil Jakhar also said on Sunday that the Rajasthan leader’s remarks could not be condoned.
Dayma had apologised on November 2, saying that he meant to refer to mosques and madrasas in his speech, but mistakenly spoke about gurdwaras.
However, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee – the body that manages Sikh places of worship in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh – said that speaking against religious sites of Muslims was as condemnable as speaking against those of Sikhs.
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