A video of a local woman BJP leader slapped a girl for befriending a Muslim youth has gone viral on social media in India. The incident took place in Aligarh City in Uttar Pradesh, one of the largest states in North India, and the BJP leader, Sangeeta Varshney, headed the local women’s wing of the party.
The girl was having tea with the youth when she was slapped twice by Varshney last Tuesday. In the video, she is heard saying: “Don’t you understand who is a Hindu and who is a Muslim. I am politely making this clear, but even then it seems that you are not getting it.”
Varshney also called up the girl’s father and also asked him to slap his daughter. The girl left with her father.
No case has been registered against the BJP leader, but on the contrary the Muslim youth was arrested and released on bail. The police official said a case under relevant sections of the penal code pertaining to obscenity at a public place was registered against the youth. This was in spite of the police officer’s statement that the girl and her father did not have a complaint against anyone and did not want to pursue the issue and had given this in writing .
The Times of India reported that the couple was earlier rounded up by the members of Hindu Yuva Vahini, a hardline Hindu youth organization founded by Yogi Adityanath, who is now the Chief Minister of the state.
When the BJP leader Varshney was later contacted by reporters, she said she does not have any issues with Muslims. “But, we have a problem with their policy of alluring Hindu girls.”
She also that she was proud of what she did and would not hesitate to do the same again as she cannot “tolerate” such Hindu-Muslim relationships.
