LS membership will be taken away under 'Opposition-free India scheme': Danish Ali on Afzal Ansari's conviction

On Saturday, BSP leader Danish Ali lashed out at the BJP after party colleague Afzal Ansari was sentenced to four years imprisonment, saying Ansari's Lok Sabha membership would soon be taken away under the "Opposition-free India scheme".

New Delhi: BSP leader Danish Ali lashed out at the BJP on Saturday after party colleague Afzal Ansari was sentenced to four years imprisonment, saying Ansari's Lok Sabha membership would soon be taken away under "Opposition-free India scheme", but lawsuits against legislators of the ruling party will go on for centuries.

A court in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur on Saturday sentenced gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari and his brother and BSP MP Afzal Ansari to imprisonment for 10 years and four years, respectively in a 2007 Gangsters Act case. The verdict could lead to Afzal losing his Lok Sabha membership. According to the Representation of the People Act, any member will be disqualified if convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more.

"Soon Afzal Ansari's membership will be taken away under the scheme of 'Opposition-free India and Muslim-free legislatures', but the lawsuits of MPs and MLAs of the ruling party will go on for centuries No one will be punished and no one's membership will be taken away," Danish Ali, a Lok Sabha MP from Amroha, said in a tweet in Hindi.

This is the new custom of 'new India', he added. Afzal, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP from Ghazipur parliamentary constituency, was produced in the court, while his brother Mukhtar attended the proceedings via video conferencing. Afzal was later taken into custody and sent to jail. (PTI)