BHOPAL: While the controversy triggered by ex-MP CM and Congress Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh’s remarks about the RSS-run Saraswati Shishu Mandir schools refuses to die down, a ruling BJP MLA has now kicked up a row with controversial remarks about Jodha Bai and Mughal emperor Akbar.
Known for making controversial statements, particularly over communal issues, the two-time BJP MLA from Huzur seat of Bhopal district made the controversial remarks during an event Hindutva Dharma Samvad in Sagar district on Monday.
“There was no I Love You between Jodha Bai and Akbar. Did they study together in college or meet in a coffee house or gym? You’ve to be very cautious and alert about such people who put their daughter at stake just out of their lust for power. We’ve to be very cautious about those who are from amongst us, but can still betray the religion just out of the lust for power,” a video showing Sharma addressing the event in Sagar went viral over social media on Tuesday.
The remarks sparked demonstration and protest by the Kshatriya (Rajput) community on Tuesday in Vidisha district, which neighbours Bhopal.
Raising anti-Rameshwar Sharma slogans, the Rajput community people burnt the effigy of the BJP MLA, who is also the ex-Pro Tem Speaker of MP Vidhan Sabha.
Realizing that the controversy triggered by his remarks could snowball into a major political issue, the BJP legislator tendered an apology. “I cannot even dream of hurting the sentiments of Rajputs, particularly as my Hindutva-oriented politics is inspired by historical icons, Maharana Pratap, Prithviraj Chauhan, and Veer Shivaji. In the event at Sagar, I was only narrating the clever divide and rule policies of the Mughals. Still, if my statements have hurt the Rajput brothers’ sentiments, I apologize to them 100 times,” Sharma said in a written apology.
It’s not the first time that Sharma has sparked controversy with remarks about any particular community. During the 2018 assembly polls, his objectionable conversation about the Sindhi community in a viral audio clip had not only triggered a row in his assembly constituency (which has a sizeable Sindhi population) but had caused huge embarrassment for the party across the state.