BJP flays Dasmunsi for Taslima remark

New Delhi, Jan 7: The BJP today criticised Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi's statement asking Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen to tender an apology with folded hands 'for hurting the sentiments of Muslims' and said the Minister had denigrated the hapless woman writer.

BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the statement itself was a challenge to the secular credentials of the UPA Government. Till date Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi had not apologised to the nation for hurting Hindu sentiments by questioning the existence of Lord Rama.

He regretted that the noted writer had been treated like a 'football' by the Left Government in West Bengal and the UPA Government at the Centre, whereas she should have been offered all protections against threats issued by fundamentalists. No Government has the right to denigrate anybody on the basis of religion under the Constitution,'' he added.

UNI