Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Sunday called a meeting with party leaders who have made controversial statements recently. Shah reportedly called Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, Sakshi Maharaj and Sangeet Som and warned them to refrain from making any controversial remarks, saying that Prime Minister Modi is “very angry” about their statements.

According to a senior party functionary, “Khattar, Balyan, Sakshi Maharaj and Som were summoned to Amit Shah’s office and were reprimanded in person for their controversial utterances as because of these the positive agenda of the Modi government like employment generation, poverty reduction and development get somewhat derailed”. He told The Indian Express that, “A message has been sought to be conveyed to the entire party hierarchy that leaders should desist from making statements that create unnecessary controversy. People prone to making controversial statements have also been conveyed the party’s unhappiness.”

The party has come under fire after leaders have made remarks about the Dadri lynching and beef ban. The Haryana chief minister most recently spoke to The Indian Express and said that Muslims could live in the country only if they gave up eating beef. Unnao MP Sakshi Maharaj later supported his statement.

Among those that criticised BJP leaders for their insensitive remarks was the National Democratic Alliance's Punjab ally, Shiromani Akali Dal, on Saturday. SAD MP Naresh Gujral said, “What happened after the lynching incident in Uttar Pradesh is damaging the NDA, the BJP and damaging the Prime Minister more than anybody else." Gujral also remarked that no action had been taken against these BJP leaders.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi dismissed the meetings and called Shah's actions a gimmick which "far from solving issues amounts to admission of guilt".

What they said:

  • After coming under criticism for his statement, Manohar Lal Khattar later said that The Indian Express had misquoted his remarks on beef, but the English daily released an audio of him giving the interview.
  • BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj on Saturday supported Khattar's comments and pitched for a law giving the death penalty for those who slaughter cows. He also defended BJP MLAs beating up a Jammu and Kashmir legislator as part of the beef row.
  • Mahesh Sharma termed the Dadri lynching an accident, and also alleged that the incident was a conspiracy.
  • Sangeet Som, also an accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots case, addressed an anti-beef public meeting in the village of Bisada and added to the tension in the area despite an order in place which prevented such meetings at the time. It was also later found that Som was ironically involved in a food processing company which exported beef.