Crackdown on Hindutva renegades starts: BJP serves notice to Sakshi Maharaj

After  initially saying that party legislators making statements out of turn was harming the party’s image, BJP president Amit Shah has now cracked down on the party’s Unnao MP Sakshi Maharaj for his controversial statements on subjects ranging from Nathuram Godse to Hindu women bearing four children. The BJP has slapped a show cause notice on party’s Unnao MP Sakshi Maharaj asking him to explain why action should not be initiated against him for his controversial remarks in the recent past. The notice has been sent on the directions of BJP president Amit Shah. The sadhu-turned- MP has been asked to respond within 10 days his position on why he continued to make “controversial statements which go against the party line despite having been warned,” BJP sources told PTI. It isn’t clear yet what action the party will take if the MP’s reply is found to be unsatisfactory. [caption id=“attachment_2043043” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sakshi Maharaj has been slapped with a show cause notice. PTI image[/caption] The MP was at the centre of a controversy when he asked Hindu women to have at least four children, sparking criticism from the Opposition, which alleged that the ruling party was trying to polarise the atmosphere. Earlier, the MP had been forced to apologise in Parliament after the Opposition stalled proceedings over his statements on Nathuram Godse, in which he said Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin was a “patriot”. While the party has distanced itself from his remarks and urged its workers and public representatives to refrain from making such comments, VHP leader and BJP leader Sadhvi Prachi had on Sunday come out in support of his view on Hindu women bearing four children. “Earlier we used to say ‘hum do hamare do’. But now we have started saying that ‘sher ka bachcha ek hi achha’ (for a lion, one offspring is enough). This is wrong,” Prachi, who was arrested in 2013 in connection with Muzaffarnagar riots for alleged hate speeches, said at a VHP event in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. While Sadhvi Prachi has escaped public censure so far for her comments, the party in the past had cracked down on MP Niranjan Jyoti for her comment on ‘Ramzaades’, that has resulted in outcry in Parliament and stalled legislative proceedings. However, the government has been buffeted by other controversies as well such as UP Governor Ram Naik, calling for the building of a Ram temple at Ayodhya, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj urging that the Bhagwad Gita be declared as a ‘national book’ and the VHP launched its ‘ghar vapasi’ programme of bringing Muslims back into the Hindu fold through religious conversions. There was moral policing in the name of love jihad and controversies over scrapping of Christmas holiday in schools to celebrate Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday on 25 December as Good Governance Day. The controversies have allowed the opposition to put the BJP in the dock in Parliament , particularly in the Rajya Sabha where the ruling party is in a minority. The BJP government has been forced to pass multiple legislations like the Land Ordinance Amendment Act and others through ordinances since it has been unable to move them through Parliament. By trying to muzzle its own MPs like Sakshi Maharaj, the BJP will be hoping to give the opposition little chance of stalling the upcoming Budget session of Parliament.