This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.

BJP President Amit Shah Says Party MLA Sangeet Som Shouldn't Have Gone To Dadri

BJP MLA Sangeet Som Was Wrong To Go To Dadri, Says Party President Amit Shah
NEW DELHI, INDIA - SEPTEMBER 26: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah during the launch of the his website 'www.amitshah.co.in', who hoped, it will help to interact with the people of the country and party workers, at the party headquarters at Ashoka Road, on September 26, 2015 in New Delhi, India. Shah said that different activities of the party, government and his own activities will be available on the website which will help dissemination of information to workers. (Photo by Saumya Khandelwal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
NEW DELHI, INDIA - SEPTEMBER 26: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah during the launch of the his website 'www.amitshah.co.in', who hoped, it will help to interact with the people of the country and party workers, at the party headquarters at Ashoka Road, on September 26, 2015 in New Delhi, India. Shah said that different activities of the party, government and his own activities will be available on the website which will help dissemination of information to workers. (Photo by Saumya Khandelwal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

A week after the Uttar Pradesh police charged BJP leaders Mahesh Sharma and Sangeet Som for violating prohibitory orders in Dadri, where a 52-year-old Muslim man was allegedly lynched by a Hindu mob, party president Amit Shah has admitted that Som should not have visited the village.

"Sangeet Som went there eight days after the incident," said Shah in an exclusive interview with India Today, denying that Som had in fact said that he would take revenge on people who kill cows. "But, still, he shouldn't have gone there."

Som had allegedly said that a "befitting reply" will be given if "innocents were framed", reported The Indian Express.

Even UP BJP president Laxmikant Bajpai washed his hands off Som's visit to Dadri.

"The party has nothing to do with what he said in Dadri. What he said is not the official party line," Bajpai told The Times of India. "Politicians were only indulging in politics while the fact of the matter is that it was a case between those who eat beef and those who slaughter cows."

Shah defended his party's reaction so far on the issue, claiming that there had been no official statement from BJP since UP administration is the Samajwadi Party's responsibility, which forms the state government there. "Dadri is strictly a law & order issue," he said. "Why does this not happen in Gujarat, in Madhya Pradesh? Or in Goa, Maharashtra, Haryana?"

Shah denied that BJP was making the matter communal, claiming Sharma had every right to go to Dadri since he was the local representative for BJP there. While he maintained that whoever was found guilty should be arrested in the Dadri killing, he claimed that there were no arrests in other cases where Hindus died in western UP.

'Sangeet Som Fuelled Muzaffarnagar Riots With Hate Speech And Fake Video'

According to a report by the Justice Vishnu Sahai Commission, set up to inquire into the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013, that killed at least 62 people including 42 Muslims, Som as well as BSP MP Kadir Rana's provocative speeches and a video circulated by Som and several others led to the unrest.

However, the commission could not act against Som since a case against him for circulating the wrong video has already been lodged and the matter is being investigated.

Contact HuffPost India

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.