Bahujan Samaj Party leader Kunwar Danish Ali on Friday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to publicly condemn Bharatiya Janata Party MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s unparliamentary and abusive language in Parliament.

During a debate on the success of India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission in the Lok Sabha on September 21, Bidhuri had called Ali “mullah terrorist”, “pimp” and “katwa”, a slur used for circumcised Muslims.

On Friday, Ali in a letter to Modi said that Bidhuri’s remarks were an attack on the “very essence of democracy” and urged him to take note of it as the Leader of the House.

“I request that accountability should be fixed at the earliest on the reprehensible conduct of Shri Bidhuri and he should be suitably punished so that no one can repeat such an act ever in the House,” Ali wrote.

He sought enhanced security for him, alleging that the BJP MP from South Delhi threatened him verbally and stated his intention to confront him outside Parliament.

“Given the escalation in threats, one given by Shri Bidhuri on the floor of the House and subsequent barrage of threats coming from various sources, I implore you to strengthen the security arrangements around me,” the Bahujan Samaj Party legislator wrote.

Describing the events that led to Bidhuri’s remarks, Ali claimed that he had objected to the BJP leader using inappropriate language when referring to the prime minister.

“When I rose and pointed out to Shri Bidhuri’s use of unparliamentary language towards you, he got rattled and reacted strongly, possibly realising his mistake,” Ali added. “He began making highly offensive attacks against me...to divert the attention of the House.”

Ali said that there has been an attempt to spread falsehood about him since the incident, referring to BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s accusations against him.

Dubey had accused Ali of making “highly objectionable and derogatory” remarks about Modi, two days after Bidhuri’s communal tirade sparked outrage.

In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Dubey alleged that Ali’s remarks about the prime minister instigated Bhiduri to use blatantly communal slurs in Parliament.

“[The] statement made by Danish Ali, I think, was more than enough for any patriotic public representative to lose his calm and it led to Bhidhuri responding to him like he did,” Dubey wrote. “It is also very unfortunate that the entire media has also not gone into these minute pre-mortem details, wherein Danish Ali made such disgraceful and demeaning comments against our honourable prime minister.”

Ali had denied the allegations and said that some BJP leaders were pushing a narrative.

Birla has referred the complaints against Bidhuri to the Privileges Committee. The demand was made by parties of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, reported The Hindu. The parties have demanded that Bidhuri must be suspended from Parliament till the Privileges Committee completes its investigations.

However, the committee will also look into complaints against Ali made by Dubey.