Indore: A day before Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi addresses a rally in Bhopal, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday alleged that 10,000 burqas were purchased here to feign the support of the Muslim minority towards the opposition party at the rally.
"In the entire country, it is being built up that the Bharatiya Janata Party has the support of the Muslim minority. ...Now, as proof, I have with me a bill which shows that 10,000 burqas have been bought from Indore. The same number of topis (caps) could not be found here, but were ordered from Lucknow. I will put that bill before you, as well," Singh said. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Digvijay flashed a copy of a bill for Rs 42 lakh, which he alleged, was paid on behalf of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's close aide Dilip Suryavanshi by director of Dilip Buildcon Devendra Jain.
"Preparations for the BJP workers mahakumbh (congregation) were on since last month," said the senior Congress leader adding that the deal for burqa has yet again exposed the proximity of businessman Dilip Suryavanshi, who was under the income tax department's scanner with the BJP government. Singh added that the I-T department had also raided the house of Devendra Jain. The senior Congress leader did not stop here and went a step ahead claiming that hundreds of skull caps were ordered from Lucknow. "I can support this," he reiterated adding that this is just to hoodwink the country about the support of Muslims to the BJP. The Congress leader alleged the chief minister was running the government at the behest of mining mafia.
The burqa “expose” comes days after BJP’s minority morcha State president Hidayatullah Sheikh said that Muslims would be told to “dress traditionally” for the rally as “the world must know that all sections [of society] are with the party.” The Congress secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Sanjay Nirupam said that his party’s intention was to “expose the pretentious acts of the BJP.” He added, “They want to create a false image that they care about Muslims. They will immediately forget them after polls. Making people wear burqas and topis is nothing but fooling them.”
BJP’s Indore strongman and Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya said the shop owner had complained to the police that his quotation had been misused. “The Congress does not want to do politics of issues and governance; hence it is raking up non-issues. I’ve asked the CM to keep an eye on Mr. Singh as whenever he says something, a riot takes place. He is frustrated and capable of doing anything,” he said.
However, the shopkeeper Abdul Hashmi, whose bill was presented by Singh before the media, rubbished the burqa-deal. When reporters met him and inquired about the bill he said, "Our quotation for Rs 42 lakh has been tampered with," adding that two persons had visited his shop on Monday night had asked for a quotation for 10,000 pieces of burqas. "So we handed over the quotation for Rs 44 lakh dated September 23 at a cost of Rs 466 per piece." He alleged that the quotation was tampered and presented before the media as a bill or a receipt. "Also the date was tampered with and made as August," alleged Hashmi saying that it was practically impossible to deliver 10,000 burqas in a day.
