“In the past 5 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made attempts to break the morale of Muslims. Vote for BJP if you want to destroy the Muslim breed,” a charged Srivasta said according to Indian news agency ANI, causing an uproar on social media.
He continued that despite partition of the sub-continent, the Muslim population was soaring in India and ‘soon they will come into power’ because they will have a huge vote bank.
The BJP leader went as far as saying that after winning the elections, the BJP will ‘export 10-12 million machines’ from China, shave heads of Muslims and forcefully convert them to Hinduism.
He also threatened people of consequences if they do not vote for the BJP. “Vote for BJP, or get ready to face the consequences.”
Speaking to a TV channel later, Shrivastava defended his comments saying that ‘he had said nothing wrong and would not apologize for telling the truth’.
https://twitter.com/NewsHtn/status/1119648549258444800
A joint-report produced by the Mumbai-based Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS) and the UK-based Minority Rights Group International (MRG) in 2017 revealed that communal violence increased significantly since BJP took over in 2014.
The report said the communal violence was taking a toll on all minorities including Christians and Sikhs, but Muslims were the major target.
"Muslims – who form 15 per cent of the country’s population – have borne the brunt of these hate crimes, such as lynching, threats, attacks on places of worship and forced conversion," report said.