Nobody Can Deny Voting Rights to Muslims in India, Says Bihar's Opposition Leader

Last week Haribhushan Thakur, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker from the Indian state of Bihar, sparked an absolute furore when he said that Muslims should be denied voting rights in the country.

Bihar's opposition leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav denounced the legislator of the ruling BJP for his recent remarks, and said that no one can deny voting rights to Muslims, media reports said on Thursday.

At present the BJP rules Bihar in coalition with Janata Dal-United, whose party chief Nitish Kumar is also state chief.

"Let me first make it clear that no one can take away the voting rights of Muslims in the country," Yadav said in Hindi while condemning the state chief for not taking action over BJP politician Haribhushan Thakur's recent statement.

Thakur sought to justify his remarks by explaining: "Since Muslims were given a separate country at the time of Indian partition in 1947, they should leave for Pakistan. And if they live in India, they should live like second-class citizens. We urge the government to take away voting rights of Muslims," the BJP lawmaker had stated on 25 February.

Thakur also said that Muslims wanted to make India an "Islamic state". Later, he said that he had been misquoted but did not bother to apologise.

The Bihar chapter of the BJP has issued a show-cause notice to Thakur asking him to explain his remarks.

Bihar's state chief, the JDU's Nitish Kumar dubbed his comments as "preposterous and inflammatory".

Days after Thakur's remark, the opposition also protested outside the state assembly on Monday.