BJP flays Azam Khan for rape remarks on jawans

New Delhi/Lucknow: Lashing out at Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan for his remarks against the Army, the BJP on Wednesday alleged that Mr Khan has repeatedly tried to hatch a conspiracy to divide the country and claimed he has never treated the Army as his own. The BJP asked Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party to expel the leader, who it described as a “repeat offender who politicised sensitive issues related to defence”.

“I condemn Azam Khan’s malicious statement on our Army,” said the BJP’s national spo-kesperson Shahnawaz Hussain.

A video clip of a party event held in Rampur on Tuesday shows the SP national general secretary as saying, “Armed woman attacked soldiers and cut off their private parts. They did not cut the hands, the head or the legs. They cut the part they had problems with. India should be ashamed. How will the country face the world now?”

He could be further heard, saying “Soldiers have been beaten up by women in Kashmir, Jharkhand and Assam and their private parts were also chopped off. India’s truth is that women are forced to act against Army rapists. It is a message that Hindustan should be ashamed of...”

India is deviating from its path after six decades and is adopting the path of bullet instead of ballot and the result is there for everybody to see”.

Describing Mr Khan as a “repeat offender,” BJP’s Sambit Patra said: “It has become a fashion in the country to demean the Indian Army in the name of freedom of speech and expression...While the Army protected the borders, the political parties were bent upon “showing it in a poor light.” The ruling party asserted the Indian Army was respected across the globe and because of it “we have a vibrant democracy.”

“But Mr Khan is trying to create a narrative to divide the country on the basis of religion,” Mr Patra said, adding it hit the morale of soldiers.