Bengal BJP Chief Dilip Ghosh on Monday called anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh and Kolkata's Park Circus "dogs of the opposition" party.
The Kharagpur MP reiterated his earlier claim, to add that people who were "lacking in education and finances" were being fed biryani and given money and made to sit on the street.
In a similar strain, last week on Saturday too Ghosh had said that "uneducated men and women" are protesting at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh and Kolkata's Park Circus as they get money and biryani purchased with foreign funds.
"Poor, uneducated men and women have been made to sit on roads. In return, they are receiving money every day. They are being fed biryani bought with foreign funds," Ghosh had said while addressing a party meeting in Kolkata.
"Be it Delhi's Shaheen Bagh or Kolkata's Park Circus, the picture is the same everywhere. People like Brinda Karat and P Chidambaram attend these gatherings. Some uneducated women with babies on their lap are sitting there. They are the only audience to them," the BJP MP had added at the time.
Speaking to reporters on Monday Ghosh added that "everyone knows who is doing this" and in whose neighbourhood this is happening.
"It is now a 'bhikkhe chai na, kukur bachao' (we don’t want alms take care of your dog) situation," he added.
He also referred to the rift between West Bengal's Chief Minister and Governor, saying that a person who is in office constitutionally should be protected.
Ghosh's comments come soon after party leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that comments such as "Goli Maro" made by some BJP leaders at Shaheen Bagh could have contributed to the party's defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections.
This is not the only controversial comment made by the BJP leader in recent times. Earlier, Ghosh had threatened to "beat up" and "shoot" those protesting against the CAA and dubbed intellectuals opposing the legislation "creatures", "devils" and "parasites".
In the past, he had also drawn flak after he termed Nobel Laureate Bengali economist Amartya Sen as "spineless" and claimed that people like him "can be purchased and sold".
He had also faced criticism in January after turning back an ambulance which was trying to move through a rally being addressed by him. In a video of the incident he can be heard saying, "Divert the route of ambulance as hundreds of people are sitting here. They (TMC) are doing it purposely. It is their tactic to disrupt this rally."
Ghosh later took to Twitter to state that it was a vacant ambulance "sent to the peaceful assembly at Krishnanagar in order to create chaos".
Later in January, while addressing a rally in the North 24 Parganas district, Ghosh said that "50 lakh Muslim infiltrators will be identified, if needed they will be chased out of the country."
(With inputs from agencies)
