Former J-K BJP leader stirs row by remarks against idol worship, UP CM

New Delhi [India], June 16 (ANI): Mir Shafiqa, who recently resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party Jammu and Kashmir unit, has stirred up a controversy by her remarks in a video against Hindu practices and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The leader said idol worship by Hindus was wrong and alleged that the UP CM was an extremist.
"The one who tries to destroy Islam will themselves get destroyed. Those who tampered with Islam themselves got destroyed. Note what I am saying. If I am arrested, I am ready for it. The Hindus will have to be made to understand that worshipping idols is wrong. We believe in Allah and we are not scared of anybody. Allah is with us. We are not scared of FIRs, arrests or even capital punishment. We will keep talking about rights," she said.
Calling for Muslim unity, Shafiqa claimed that the community is getting "weakened" because of division within.
"I am even miffed with the Kashmiri Muslims that we are not together. All the Muslims will have to get united. The Muslims are getting weakened because we are divided," she added urging the Muslims to unite.
In another incident of alleged hate speech, Maharashtra Congress leader Sheikh Hussain who has been charged in a police FIR filed in Nagpur for his alleged offensive comments against the Prime Minister on Wednesday said that he does not regret his statement and that his party will fight against any action taken against him.
Speaking to ANI, Hussain said, "I have not said anything that an FIR should have been registered. I delivered the speech based on the party line. The last sentence that I said, I used an idiom. There are so many things that are said as idioms, I just said that."
He also said there was nothing "regrettable" about his remark.
"I have said nothing regrettable. Our leaders are being served ED notices everyday. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have been summoned. Aren't there people in the BJP? And the people who switch from BJP to Congress are given ED notices, while the opposite is happening when someone switches from Congress to BJP," he said.
"If there will be action, we will see how our party fights against it. The party will fight. I did not speak anything derogatory. I did not make any personal remark," the Congress leader said. (ANI)