New Delhi, Feb 13 (Agencies) : Union Minster Amit Shah today admitted that hate speeches by a section of BJP leaders should not have been made ahead of Delhi assembly polls. Such speeches could have hurt the party's chances in the election, he said while speaking at the Times Now Summit 2020.
"No one has said bahu betiyon ka balatkar karenge (wives and daughters will be raped). But the rest -- goli maaro, Indo-Pak match -- those also should not have made. The party distanced itself immediately," Amit Shah said, speaking for the first time since the Delhi election results were announced on Tuesday.
"All kinds of workers there who may say something but the public knows how the party is. But this is not the outlook of the party. May be we have also suffered because of this. We don't know exactly as voters could not write why they didn't vote. But maybe this could have been a reason," he said.
Many on social media pointed out that the BJP has not taken action against any of the leaders who crossed the line. A few of them, including Anurag Thakur, had received penalties from the Election Commission.
Shah also added that his "assessment" about the number of seats the party would have won has gone wrong. "I firmly believed our party would have won with majority. I don't mind accepting it... Most times I have been correct, this time i wasn't," he added, as elsewhere, the party conducted a post mortem of its poor performance.
The BJP performance in the Delhi elections fell far short of expectation.
Talking about the performance of BJP in the recently concluded assembly polls in the national capital, Shah said that people of Delhi had not rejected BJP. “It’s not like the people rejected us. Kejriwal was third in the Lok Sabha elections. That doesn’t mean that he was rejected by the people of Delhi. Election results are not a reflection on ideologies. We haven’t abandoned our ideology ever," said Shah while answering a question.
The home minister further said that there was no clause in the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which was against the minorities of the country and he was ready to debate on the issue. Shah also added that the union government would take steps that were beneficial for the nation and there was no personal stake in CAA.
“I want to tell all journalists not to talk about just anti-CAA protests but also about why the people are protesting. I have not found a clause in CAA due to which they feel that it is anti-Muslim. I am ready to debate if someone finds it," he said.
“There is nothing to protest against CAA. They should protest when there will be action. If they have a problem, they should talk to us about it. I have answered all the questions in Parliament. If they have more questions, I’m ready to answer," the minister added.