The Samajwadi Party on Saturday suspended a leader who requested party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to nominate the widow of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon as a Rajya Sabha MP.
IBNLive reported that Mohammed Farooq Ghosi was suspended by his party after his letter to Yadav kicked up a major political storm.
Ghosi said he would accept whatever party has decided for him but does not regret his statement, IBNLive reported. An earlier report quoted him as saying that he should not have written such a letter.
"I should not have written a letter to SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. I understand this was not a proper time to write such a letter," he said.
Ghosi, the vice president of the Maharashtra SP unit, described Memon's wife Raheen as "helpless". Memon was hanged to death inside the Nagpur Central Jail on July 30 after hectic last minute efforts by his legal counsels failed to get a stay on his death warrant at the country's apex court.
"Raheen was in jail for many years. How much she would have suffered.. Today I find Raheen helpless and there are many such Muslims in the country who find themselves helpless and for whom we have to fight for. We should make Raheen a Rajya Sabha MP and make her the voice of weak and helpless people," Ghosi said in a letter to the SP chief.
when abu azmi has to distance himself from an SP leader's statement then we know it has gone beyond the ridiculous http://t.co/BQH5aceMAY
— Hartosh Singh Bal (@HartoshSinghBal) August 1, 2015
"Mulayamji has always stood for the Muslims and the poor people of the society so this will send a good message," the Times of India quoted Ghosi as saying.
This comes a day after Tripura governor Tathagata Roy's controversial tweets suggesting that Indian intelligence agencies should keep a tab on "all (expt relatives & close friends) who assembled before Yakub Memon's corpse. Many are potential terrorists."
"Governors ought to be concerned abt security of state. Intelligence keeping tab on Yakub's mourners is preventing terror. Better than cure," Roy tweeted. But after a hailstorm of tweets criticising him, Roy backtracked and said he mentioned no particular community. "So how come I'm accused of being 'communal bigot'? Guilty conscience?" he further said.
State party president Abu Asim Azmi, however, distanced himself from the matter, saying that an explanation will be sought from Ghosi on the content of his letter.
"He (Ghosi) has not consulted the party before making irresponsible comments. He has written the letter in his personal capacity. He will be asked to explain his stand, following which necessary action will be taken against him," Azmi told PTI.
Congress said the decision to hang Memon was taken by the Supreme Court and should thus, not be politicised.
"This is their internal party matter. But it seems more like their tacit agenda to communalise the issue. The decision to hang Memon was taken by the Supreme Court and thus the matter should not be politicised now," Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said.
BJP leader Madhav Bhandari said Ghosi's comments prove that SP is only interested in playing vote-bank politics and that the party should come out and clear its stand on the issue.
"Every person has the right to suggest something to his party. But every leader needs to show some constraint while making suggestions. SP has to clear its stand and if he is acting against party line, then party should take some serious action. This is sheer exploitation of votebank politics," he said.
Samajwadi Party removes Farooq Ghosi from his post after he demanded Rajya Sabha seat for Yabub Memon's wife #IndiaTV
— India TV (@indiatvnews) August 1, 2015
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