MLA Banwari Lal Singhal. MLA Banwari Lal Singhal.

BJP’s Alwar Urban MLA Banwari Lal Singhal has said that most people from the Meo Muslim community are criminals and he would never ask for their votes. Speaking to The Indian Express on Wednesday, Singhal stuck to the statements he made to reporters in Alwar.

“There is absolutely no doubt that most people from the Meo community are involved in criminal activities, be it grabbing lands or trapping Hindu girls as part of a planned strategy of love jihad. I have never asked for their votes and neither will in future, as otherwise I might be morally bound to protect them from legal action for their criminal acts,” Singhal said.

The MLA had recently told the media that in his constituency “love jihad” is a big issue, mostly perpetrated by people from the Meo community. He had also said that he always maintains a distance from people of the community.

“Jo ek anpadh ladki Muslim samaj ki hai usko to ye pata hai ki apne dharam ke mutabik ki Hindu samaj ke ladke se na pyar karna hai na shaadi karni hai. Aur hamare Hindu samaj ki most talented most intellectual bahut padi likhi ladki, wo aisi dharm nirapeksh ho jati hai ki wo araam se Meo ke sath chahe wo fake id ke aadhar par usse sambandh ho jate hai, ya kaise bhi puri janch ki padtal kiye bina Meo samaj ke logo ke saath shadiyan kar karke aise shaan se ja rahi hai (An illiterate Muslim girl knows that according to her religion she should neither love or marry a Hindu boy. And the highly talented, intellectual and educated Hindu girls are becoming secular and going with Meos, whether the relationships start on the basis of a fake id or without proper investigation, they go with people from the Meo community),” Singhal had told the media in Alwar.

He had also claimed that later, after the Hindu girls are disowned by the Meo families, they ask for help from politicians such as him.

“I stand by what I had said. Meo people make friends in Hindu families and later lure women as part of love jihad. I am saying this only about the Meo people of Alwar and not the entire Muslim community. As a Hindu, shouldn’t I speak for the Hindu community?” Singhal said.

Members of the Meo community said that Singhal’s statements were a bid to polarise people along religious lines. “We don’t take Singhal seriously. This is a blatant effort to use the Hindutva card to polarise the electorate because Singhal knows he won’t get many votes this time. I challenge him to show evidence to substantiate the baseless allegations against the Meo community,” said Sher Moahmmad, president of Meo Panchayat.

In January, the MLA had said that Muslims bear up to a dozen children with an aim to outnumber Hindus and take “control of the country”.

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