MATHURA: A former Uttar Pradesh minister and SP leader today exhorted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enact a law with provisions of "stringent punishment" for people engaged in anti-national activities.
"Prime Minister should enact a law through legislation, for stringent punishment to a person engaged in anti-national activities, irrespective of his caste, creed or religion," Ashu Malik, an MLC and a firebrand Samajwadi Party leader demanded here.
He also advised BJP leaders to visit Deoband and stay there to see the education imparted in the Islamic seminary.
"In fact, it is full of brotherhood and patriotism," he said.
People raising suspicion and doubts on Deoband should know that it is the pious land of Maulana Mahmudul Hassan where people had sacrificed during freedom struggle, he said.
BJP and RSS had recently attacked Darul Uloom Deoband after it issued an edict asking Muslims to refrain from raising the 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' slogan as it is "akin to idol worship," which is against the tenets of Islam.
He also alleged that the BJP government at the Centre was raising issues like 'love jihad', 'Ram temple' and 'nationalism', only to divert people's attention.
"Burning issues like development, unemployment, problem of villages and farmers, have been replaced by communal issues, simply to strengthen vote bank," Malik alleged in an interaction with reporters.
BJP's "double speak" is also reflected in the appointment of Keshav Maurya as new state president of the party, he alleged.
"By giving crown to a tainted activist," who is allegedly involved in more than a dozen serious crimes, "BJP has shown its intention," Malik said.