By Maktoob
Senior BJP leader and Ex-MP Ramesh Bidhuri on Monday used an anti-Muslim slur while commenting on the recent Jantar Mantar protest against the alleged NEET paper leak, claiming that “puncture banane wale aur tala banane wale” (those who repair tyre punctures and locksmiths) outnumbered students at the demonstration.
The term “puncture-wala”, literally referring to a roadside tyre-repair worker, has increasingly been used in Hindutva right-wing leaders as a derogatory anti-Muslim slur, drawing on occupational stereotypes that associate Muslims with informal jobs such as tyre and cycle repair.
“By misleading them, they gathered 20,000–50,000 children there. The number of puncture repairers and lock-makers (locksmiths) was higher than the number of students. You know who the puncture repairers are? Those people were there in larger numbers, while the students were fewer,” Bidhuri said,addressing BJP’s “Gen Z Summit” in Delhi.
He also criticised the abusive slogans directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating, “Can the sons and daughters of India talk like this about Modi ji and his family? They must be the children of puncture repairers who were using such words against Modi ji.”
References to “tala banane wale” (locksmiths) are also widely viewed by critics as invoking occupational stereotypes associated with Muslims.
Bidhuri’s remarks came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a video message posted on Saturday, appealed for people to forgive the “misguided children” who had used abusive language against him and his late mother during the Jantar Mantar protest. While saying he was pained that his late mother had been subjected to “filthy abuses”, Modi urged that the young protesters be guided rather than punished.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.