BJP leader denies blankets to Muslim women at distribution drive

A former Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Rajasthan refused to give blankets allegedly to Muslim women during a distribution drive, saying that “those who abuse Modi” did not have the right to receive them.

A video that surfaced on social media on Sunday showed the former MP, Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria, taking back blankets purportedly from Muslim women in the Kareda Buzurg village in Tonk district. It is unclear when the video was recorded.

“Listen to me, those who abuse [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi have no right to take [blankets],” Jaunapuria was heard saying in a video shared by Congress MP Harish Chandra Meena. “If you feel bad, so be it.”

Jaunapuria had shared an edited version of the video showing him distributing blankets to women.

One of the women who was refused a blanket, Sukaran Khan, was quoted by the Hindustan Times as saying that the BJP leader “got offended” on hearing a Muslim name.

“He was giving blankets to everyone,” she was quoted as saying. “But suddenly, he asked his staff to ask for our names. We told him our names. He got offended as we are Muslims. He immediately took our blankets back.”

The video shows Jaunapuria asking his aides not to give blankets to the women and asking them to leave. It also shows some persons confronting him about his refusal to give Muslim women blankets, to which he said that there was no need for argument.

“It doesn’t matter if you feel bad,” the former Tonk-Sawai Madhopur MP was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times. “They will take the blanket and will later boast that they made a fool of us.”

Meena, the incumbent MP from Sawai Madhopur-Tonk, said that Jaunapuria’s act was “shameful and inhuman”. He said that the BJP leader’s actions were “the result of a divisive mindset that destroys the social fabric of this country”.

Congress MLA from Tonk Sachin Pilot said that the worldview of the BJP and its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, reflects “hatred rather than compassion”.

“Depriving a poor, needy woman of a blanket and insulting her is extremely reprehensible and unfortunate,” Pilot said in a social media post. “Discrimination based on religion and caste is not only morally wrong but also a violation of constitutional rights.”

The Trinamool Congress remarked that such incidents raise troubling questions about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”, or development for all, and with all. “Welfare cannot come with religious filters,” it said.

“Your [BJP’s] hearts are blacker and colder than the winter these women endured,” the party said. “Your rallies drip with fake unity; your party overflows with pure venom. This is your ‘New India’, cruel, communal, heartless.”