Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI Apr 20: Within hours of the BJP Member of the Lok Sabha from Jharkhand Nishikant Dubey targeted the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India forcing the party to distance itself from his comments, he launched a scathing attack on the former Chief Election Commissioner of India, S.Y. Quraishi on Sunday saying that “he was not an election commissioner, but a Muslim commissioner.”
Engaging in an online spat with Mr Quraishi over the Waqf Amendment Act, Mr Dubey the fourth-term Member of Parliament from Godda Lok Sabha Constituency in Jharkhand, alleged that the highest number of Bangladeshi infiltrators were legitimised by distributing voter IDs in Jharkhand’s Santhal Pargana division during his tenure. Godda Lok Sabha constituency, which Dubey represents in the Parliament, is located in this division.
Quraishi was the 17th Chief Election Commissioner appointed during the UPA II era, serving in the post from July 30, 2010, to June 10, 2012.
His stinging remarks came after the former CEC alleged on X that the Centre intended to “grab Muslim lands” through the controversial Waqf Act, which is now under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court. Quraishi expressed confidence that the top court will call out the government’s “sinister plan”.
“Waqf Act is undoubtedly a blatantly sinister/evil plan of the govt to grab Muslim lands. I’m sure SC will call it out. Misinformation by the mischievous propaganda machine has done its job well,” Quraishi said on X.
Hitting back at Quraishi, Dubey alleged that the largest number of voter ID cards were distributed to the Bangladeshi infiltrators during his tenure in Jharkhand. “You were not an Election Commissioner, you were a Muslim Commissioner. It was during your tenure that the highest number of Bangladeshi infiltrators were made voters in Jharkhand’s Santhal Pargana. Islam brought by Prophet Muhammad came to India in 712 AD — before that, this land belonged to Hindus or was associated with tribal, Jain, or Buddhist faiths. My village Vikramshila was burned down by Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1189. Vikramshila University gave the world its first Vice-Chancellor in the form of Atisha Dipankar.
Mr Dubey called upon the people to get united and not let divisions rule. He said Pakistan was created by dividing India, and there will not be another partition. “Unite this country, read history, Pakistan was created by dividing it, there will be no partition now?” he said.
Dubey stoked a row on Saturday after he said that the Parliament should be shut down if the Supreme Court frames laws. His remarks drew sharp reaction from the Opposition and isolation from the BJP which promptly distanced itself. BJP chief JP Nadda said those were his personal remarks and the party did not agree with them.
One of the most vocal leaders, Mr Dubey has often been used by the BJP as its front face to attack the opposition and institutions critical of the BJP regime to gauge the public reaction before the party take up an issue in its entirety. The Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh has pointed out that Mr Dubey along with the party’s Rajya Sabha member Dinesh Sharma were “repeat offenders when it comes to hate speech” and often deployed by the party to “attack communities, institutions, and individuals.”
Born in Deoghar in Bihar and the nephew of a Jana Sangh leader, the 56-year-old Dubey moved into the RSS orbit early, starting with its shakhas. After a stint in the corporate world, he joined active politics in 2009 and has been elected to the Lok Sabha from Godda in Jharkhand four straight times.
Mr Dubey has often taken the lead in targeting Opposition leaders. In recent years, Dubey has been the BJP’s leader of choice in opening for it during major debates or when taking on the Opposition. He was the surprise choice as the lead speaker during the 2023 debate on the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha, when everyone expected the BJP to field one of its woman MPs.
The same month, as the BJP moved to contain the fallout from the damage that its then Lok Sabha MP Ramesh Bidhuri caused with his offensive remarks about fellow MP Danish Ali. Months earlier, Dubey had the Congress up in arms after his comments that the party’s leaders were talking to the representatives of a foreign power “during the Doklam crisis” in 2017 — a reference to China — were first expunged but then restored. The Congress said the move was unprecedented and an “extraordinary phenomenon.”
Mr Dubey has also been one of the loudest voices calling for a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Jharkhand, alleging that uncontrolled entry of undocumented migrants from Bangladesh was leading to demographic changes in the state. Last year, he said during a session of the Lok Sabha that the Malda and Murshidabad districts of neighbouring West Bengal, which border Bangladesh, should be made Union Territories to clamp down on undocumented immigration.
This narrative of undocumented immigration changing the demographic features of the Adivasi regions of Jharkhand became a major poll plank for the BJP in the Jharkhand Assembly late last year. Though it failed to have an electoral impact as the Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha returned to power, it has not stopped Mr Dubey from staying on the narrative.
“This is not an election issue,” Dubey said last month. “Our whole demography has changed. The 45% population of tribals in Jharkhand has come down to 28% in the 2011 census. It would be 23-24% now. Jharkhand was made for the tribals and they are becoming extinct in the state. Congress only looks at its vote bank. It is time to conduct an NRC in Jharkhand. Then, Bangladeshis should be identified and deported in handcuffs,” he had said.
