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Updated: Apr 04, 2020 12:43 IST

A Bharatiya Janata Party legislator from Uttarakhand, Rajkumar Thukral, said on Friday members of the Tablighi Jamaat should be booked under the National Security Act (NSA) for allegedly spitting on doctors and misbehaving with nurses.

Thukral is heard saying in a video, which went viral on social media, alleged that Tablighi Jamaat members are involved in spreading the coronavirus disease and making the country hollow from inside.

He was reacting to reports that some Tablighi Jamaat members misbehaved with the nurses at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad when they taken for check-ups at city hospitals. The Uttar Pradesh government ordered booking of the offenders under the stringent National Security Act on Friday.

“It is a conspiracy against our nation that Jamaatis are not only spreading the epidemic but also misbehaving with doctors and nurses in hospitals. The government should order to shoot them, they are behaving as anti-nationals. They are a big threat to our national security,” Thukral, a BJP legislator from Rudrapur area of Udham Singh Nagar, said.

Opposition Congress said Thukral’s comments were an attempt of the BJP to “communalise the pandemic to hide its failures in handling it”.

“Thukral’s statement is not the first one from a BJP leader. A few days ago, two of its MLAs called for social boycott of Muslims. This is clearly being done according to an agenda. They want to turn this pandemic into Hindu vs Muslim to hide the government’s failure to curb the pandemic,” Suryakant Dhasamana, Congress state vice-president, said.

Thukral has been involved in many controversies over the years. In October last year, the BJP had sought an explanation from Thukral over his comments against Muslims in a video, which had surfaced on social media and gone viral.

Thukral was allegedly seen in the video telling people at a public gathering in his constituency that he doesn’t need any Muslim votes and will never bow before any Muslim or a mosque.

Thukral in his response had said the video was from October 2, 2011, and was shot after communal riots.

In the same month, Thukral had sparked another controversy with his comments. He had called Sita ‘Meri Jaan’ on October 1 while playing the role of Ravana in a local Ramlila in Rudrapur.

The video of the scene was widely circulated on social media, prompting the Uttarakhand unit of the Congress to attack the BJP and demand action against Thukral.

Thukral had justified the dialogue, saying he was just playing the role of Ravana.