The BJP on Sunday expelled its Rajasthan leader Sandeep Dayma, who was at the centre of a controversy for making a hate remark.
Mr. Dayma was expelled from the primary membership of the party for making a statement against the party’s ideology, said BJP disciplinary committee head Onkar Singh Lakhawat.
The decision came after senior BJP leader and former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and other party members had demanded strict action against Mr. Dayma for his hate remarks about “mosques and gurdwaras”.
On Sunday, BJP members, led by State Mahila Morcha president Jai Inder Kaur, submitted a complaint at the Sector 39 police station in Chandigarh against Mr. Dayma demanding action against him.
In their complaint, the BJP members said Mr. Dayma’s remarks had created an atmosphere of insecurity and hurt the religious sentiments of people.
On Saturday, Capt. Amarinder Singh said, “People like Dayma, who speak mindlessly and make vicious statements should have no place in a party like the BJP.” Not only Mr. Dayma should be expelled from the party, there must be legal action also, he said.
Recently, Mr. Dayma, during an election rally in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Rajasthan’s Tijara Assembly constituency said that “if the BJP comes to power, mosques and gurdwaras would be uprooted.” This remark led to widespread criticism, following which Mr. Dayma tendered an apology. There was a furore even after his apology where he said that during the rally what he wanted to say was that ‘masjid (mosques)-madrasas’ would be uprooted, but somehow, he stated gurdwara also.
‘Perverted mindset’
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal, rejecting the apology, stated on X that Mr. Dayma seems to suffer from an ‘arrogant and perverted mindset’ and he did not understand that there was no difference among shrines of different religions, be it a temple, a gurdwara, a masjid or any other place of worship.
He said people like Mr. Dayma who disturbed peace and communal harmony should face action.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) — the body responsible for the management of gurdwaras — also slammed Mr. Dayma. In a post on X, the SGPC said: “In his apology, BJP leader Sandeep Dayma who gave statement of uprooting gurdwaras and masjids during his party rally in Tijara, Rajasthan, says, ‘I wanted to say Masjid-Madrasa, but somehow said gurdwara’. He should be ashamed of this statement too, as speaking against religious places of Muslims is equally condemnable as gurdwaras.”
