BJP chief Jagat Prakash Nadda on Saturday reportedly summoned Union Minister Giriraj Singh over his recent controversial remarks on Deoband and his description of the place as a cradle of terrorism.
The summons comes a couple of days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah on a television campaign admitted that polarising statements by party leaders during the Delhi Assembly polls had hurt its prospects and aided the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) win Delhi for the third successive time.
At a gathering in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh three days ago, Mr. Singh said: “I had once said the Deoband [site of the second oldest Islamic seminary after Al-Azhar in Cairo] is the Gangotri of terrorism. All the major terrorists from across the world have been born here.”
Mr. Singh insisted that he stood by his statement and no word was out whether he took Mr. Nadda’s concerns on board.
