BSP MLA suspended 'for supporting CAA'

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday suspended party MLA from Madhya Pradesh, Ramabai Parihar "for supporting Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019."

"BSP is a disciplined party and if discipline is broken, immediate action is taken against MP/MLA etc of the party. In the same order, BSP MLA Ramabai Parihar from Patheria in MP has been suspended from the party for supporting CAA. She is also banned from participating in the party programs," Mayawati stated in a tweet.

"While the BSP first opposed the CAA, calling it divisive and unconstitutional, it also voted against it in Parliament and gave a memorandum to the President about its withdrawal. Nonetheless, MLA Parihar supported CAA. In the past, she had been warned to walk the party line several times," she added.

Earlier on Saturday, Ramabai allegedly supported the CAA at an event in Patheria.

When approached on the issue by reporters today in Patheria, she said: "Whatever Behen Ji (Mayawati) has seen in the media is a distorted version of the truth. I believe in the party's ideology and I will always support Behen Ji. However, if she feels that I have done a mistake then I take back my words."

"I had only said that terrorists should be removed from the nation and my comment did not include anything else," she added.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, seeks to grant Indian citizenship to Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.