Mumbai/Pune: The Maharashtra BJP on Sunday demanded action against the organisers of the recent Elgar Parishad in Pune for “supporting” Sharjeel Usmani, one of the speakers at the conclave, for his “anti-Hindu comments”.
In a tweet, state BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said the Elgar Parishad was creating divisions in society.
“By supporting Usmani’s anti Hindu comments, Elgar Parishad proves what its real motives are,” Upadhye tweeted.
The Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerna Abhiyan, the organising body of Elgar Parishad 2021 held in Ganesh Kala Krida Rang Manch in Pune, in a statement said it was “firmly standing with Sharjeel Usmani”.
The statement said “activist Sharjeel Usmani is a 23- year-old Muslim student” and “the Muslim part of his identity had to be mentioned because the perverted, vile and violent reaction to Sharjeel’s speech is solely because of his religion”.
It said “the Brahminical element” had created “hoopla around one statement in Sharjeel Usmani’s speech”.
Usmani, an alumni of the Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh, is accused of making derogatory remarks about Hinduism during a Elgar Parishad event organised in Pune on January 30.
Pune police on February 2 registered a case under section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion etc) against Usmani on the complaint of a BJP youth wing leader, officials had said.