The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday expelled a senior leader based in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow after he dubbed the party’s top leadership as “Gujarati thugs”, PTI reported. He was expelled for six years, according to ANI.

IP Singh, who was the party’s former spokesperson, said on Twitter that he came to know of his expulsion from the party through news reports. “I had given my three decades to the party,” he tweeted on Monday. “Even speaking truth is a crime in the party which has lost its internal democracy,” he said.

The party’s decision to expel him comes after he tweeted against the BJP’s top leadership. “I belong to a principled kshatriya family,” he said on Monday. “Two Gujarati thugs have been befooling Hindi-speaking people for the last five years after capturing the country’s Hindi heartland, while we are silent,” he said.

His Twitter handle has “usuldaar” or “principled” prefixed to his name. In another tweet on Monday, Singh asked if the country had chosen a “pradhan mantri” (prime minister) or “prachar mantri” (advertisement minister). “Does the country’s prime minister look good selling t-shirt and tea cup?” Singh asked. “The BJP has been a party which made its place in the people’s hearts through its ideology. It’s impossible to produce “workers” with missed calls and T-shirts.”

Singh took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he apologies to Modi for not being able work as his chowkidar while being “blindfolded”.

Singh also praised Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav for contesting from Azamgarh. “It heralds an end of the politics of caste and religion,” Singh tweeted on Sunday. Azamgarh is Singh’s home district.