BJP's hate politics behind Muzaffarnagar slap incident, says Congress president

New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday alleged that the thrashing of a child in a school in Uttar Pradesh was the result of the BJP's hate-filled politics.

He said such incidents tarnish the country's image and call for strict punishment to the guilty so that no one dares to repeat them.

A video showing a school teacher in Muzaffarnagar asking her students to slap a Muslim boy and making objectionable remarks against his community has gone viral on social media eliciting strong words from several political parties.

"The manner in which a teacher made other children thrash a child in a school in UP due to religious discrimination is a disturbing result of the hate-filled politics of the BJP-RSS. Such incidents tarnish our global image. This is against the constitution," Kharge said on X in a post in Hindi.

यूपी के एक स्कूल में जिस तरह एक अध्यापिका ने धार्मिक भेदभाव कर एक बच्चे को दूसरे बच्चों से पिटवाया है, वो BJP-RSS की नफ़रत भरी राजनीति का विचलित कर देने वाला परिणाम है।

ऐसी घटनाएँ हमारी वैश्विक छवि पर कालिख पोत देती हैं। ये संविधान के ख़िलाफ़ है।

समाज में सत्ताधारी पार्टी की…

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) August 26, 2023

He termed the incident a result of the "divisive thinking of the ruling party" and cited another incident where an RPF jawan gunned down four people "in the name of religion." A Railway Protection Force (RPF) jawan had on July 31 shot dead four people on board a train near Palghar railway station in Maharashtra.

The jawan had fired from his automatic weapon, killing another RPF jawan and three passengers of the train, which was on its way to Mumbai from Jaipur.

Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that a place like a school is being turned into a "marketplace of hatred."

"This is the same kerosene spread by the BJP which has set every corner of India on fire. Children are the future of India - do not hate them, we all have to together teach love," he had said on X.

मासूम बच्चों के मन में भेदभाव का ज़हर घोलना, स्कूल जैसे पवित्र स्थान को नफ़रत का बाज़ार बनाना - एक शिक्षक देश के लिए इससे बुरा कुछ नहीं कर सकता।

ये भाजपा का फैलाया वही केरोसिन है जिसने भारत के कोने-कोने में आग लगा रखी है।

बच्चे भारत का भविष्य हैं - उनको नफ़रत नहीं, हम सबको मिल…

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 25, 2023

The video that surfaced online on Friday showed the teacher, identified as Trapti Tyagi, asking the students of Class 2 of a private school in Khubbapur village to hit the child.

Muzaffarnagar Police on Saturday booked Tyagi in an FIR, but is yet to reveal the charges.