BJP does not approve of comments of Mishra, Verma: Prasad

Facing flak over controversial remarks made by some party leaders such as Kapil Mishra, the BJP on Friday disapproved their comments, while asserting the views expressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah should be seen as its stand on the row over amended citizenship law and Delhi violence.

Asked about alleged incendiary comments of Mishra and MP Parvesh Verma, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the home minister has already "clarified" the party's position, and the top BJP brass never considered their comments appropriate.

"They have not approved of their remarks," he said.

"If publicly very senior leaders have disapproved of these statements, I think it means a lot. And the party with its own internal system will surely respond to these situations," Prasad told reporters in answer to questions about why the BJP has not acted against them.

He noted that the police are looking into the comments made by them, and the matter is sub-judice.

The Delhi High Court had on Wednesday expressed "anguish" over the police's failure to register FIRs against some BJP leaders including Mishra and Verma over their alleged hate speeches in connection with the CAA-related violence.

But on Thursday, the court made the Centre a party in the case and gave it four weeks to file a reply to the petition.

While Mishra and Verma made several controversial comments during the Delhi polls inviting Election Commission censure, the former is also accused of making a provocative speech in northeast Delhi before communal riots erupted there.

Though no senior party leader had criticised Mishra for his latest provocation, Shah in an interview after the BJP suffered a humiliating defeat in the Delhi assembly polls had said its leaders should not have made controversial remarks during the campaign.

Asked if the party had suffered due to them, Shah had said it might have.

Prasad also referred to Modi's tweets in which he had made appeal for peace in the national capital, and Shah's statement that Muslims have as much rights in the country as Hindus.

These views should be seen as the BJP's stand, Prasad said.

The BJP leader, however, rejected any comparison between Mishra and AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, saying the latter has been booked in the case for allegedly murdering an Intelligence Bureau official.

The AAP has suspended him from the party.