Union minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh on Tuesday said the Election Commission should ban the use of green flags, often associated with political and religious bodies associated with Muslims, alleging that they spread hate and create a perception of being used in Pakistan.
Known for his hardline Hindutva views that have often triggered controversies, Singh said his fight from this parliamentary constituency is against a “gang” working for “breaking up” India, and asserted that he represents the agenda of cultural nationalism and development.
In an interview to PTI, the saffron party leader asserted the BJP-led NDA would improve its 2014 tally of 31 seats in Bihar (which has total 40 Lok Sabha seats) and it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself who is the alliance candidate on every seat and all contesting leaders “are his symbols”.
Singh is locked in a triangular contest with RJD’s Tanveer Hasan and young CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar. He had won with a margin of over 1.4 lakh votes from Bihar’s Nawada Lok Sabha constituency in 2014, but has been shifted to Begusarai this time.
He had publicly expressed his anguish over the shift but was placated by the central leadership with party president Amit Shah himself reaching out to him.
The contest here has become one of the most talked about ones in this general election due to Singh being seen as a face of the BJP’s unyielding Hindutva philosophy and Kumar, a former JNU student union leader, presenting himself as a fiery challenger to the saffron ideology. The seat goes to the poll on April 29.
