NEW DELHI: The Left parties on Friday sought an apology from suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma for her recent remarks on Prophet Mohammad, and said if the law did not act against her, it would send out a wrong message.
The Supreme Court on Friday came down heavily on Sharma for her controversial comments, saying her "loose tongue" has "set the entire country on fire" and that she is "single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country".
Refusing to entertain Sharma's plea for clubbing of FIRs lodged in various states against her for the remark, the bench held that the comment was made either for cheap publicity, political agenda or some nefarious activities.
"It is a severe indictment of not Sharma's views alone but of the misuse of authority the BJP exercises, it is an indictment of the divisiveness BJP promotes and the hate its leaders and trolls consistently fan, putting our country at great risk. It is the BJP that should also apologise and pledge to not indulge in further acts which are anti-Indian, unpatriotic and divisive," said CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury in a tweet.
He said the party hoped that action would be taken against Sharma.
"We hope that beyond words, if according to Supreme Court, Ms Sharma is responsible for starting the hate spiral & most recent reprehensible cycle of violence, she will be proceeded upon as per law. BJP has suspended her only as of now, under international pressure."
"But if the law does not act against her and others like her promoted by the party, who sow discord, separatism and damage India, the wrong message would be go out. We would find many more like her mushrooming from the RSS/BJP's hate factory and on vitriolic TV debates," Yechury said.
Comparing the cases of Sharma and AltNews co-founder Mohammad Zubair, Yechury said the top court should take cognisance of the latter as well.
"We were hoping that the Supreme Court will take cognisance of the fact that a fact checker, journalist Mr Mohammed Zubair has been jailed for the flimsiest of reasons, on the prompting of a dubious handle that has now vanished. Police under BJP, only because he pointed out Ms Sharma's hate-speech has victimised him. He should not have been in jail at all, but encouraged to continue his work as a diligent fact-checker to help counter the polarised, divisive world RSS/BJP has been desperate to shape," he said.
CPI MP Binoy Viswam too appreciated the remarks made by the apex court on Sharma and compared her case with that of Teesta Setalvad and Sreekumar.
"Red carpet for Nupur Sarma, prison cells for Teesta and Sreekumar! Comments from Supreme Court should alert Modi Govt. Irresponsibility, driven by bigotry should n't be hall mark of any spokesperson. Such elements caused Udaipur incident. They should apologise to People & Nation," CPI MP Binoy Viswam tweeted.
CPIML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said that in a way, the Supreme Court's remark is an indictment of the present government's "polarising discourse". "It also amounts to an indictment of the hate-filled polarising discourse promoted by the regime and the impunity granted to hate merchants," he said on Twitter.