Bareilly: The chief of Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC), Maulana Tauqir Raza Khan joined the list of leaders demanding action against MLA T Raja Singh who recently made a controversial remark against Prophet Muhammad. During a press conference held at his residence in Bareilly on Wednesday, he demanded strict action against the BJP MLA from Telangana and threatened of going on an indefinite strike if his demands aren't met in the next 11 days.
"T Raja Singh should be arrested at the earliest. In fact, BJP leader Nupur Sharma, who had also made indecent remarks of this kind, should also have been arrested immediately. But the government did not do so. People like T. Raja get the motivation to say things like these because of the lack of strict and immediate action," the leader said while addressing the press conference.
Highlighting that though T. Raja was sent to judicial custody for 14 days for his remarks, he was released a few hours later. Further warning how actions like these can make people's faith in the judiciary dwindle, he said, "This is a very serious matter. With such decisions, the court might entirely lose the trust people place in them. A country where the people do not have enough faith in the judiciary essentially suffers losses."
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Khan further reiterated that his entire party demands for the BJP MLA T. Raja to be arrested immediately. "Whatever legal action can be taken against T. Raja, it should be done. Similarly, the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case who have recently been released should also be arrested immediately. If these demands are not met within the next 11 days, we will go on an indefinite strike that will stretch far and wide. We are also ready to hold a hunger strike if it comes to that," he said.
T. Raja Singh, the BJP MLA from Hyderabad's Goshmahal who is known for his hardline religious rhetoric, was arrested by the Hyderabad police on Tuesday over his alleged remarks on the Prophet and suspended by the BJP for "violating" the party's Constitution. Hours after the arrest, he was granted bail by a local court before which he was produced.
