Shubham Malik, son of BJP MLA from Budhana constituency Umesh Malik, who is one of the accused in the 2013 Muzzaffarnagar riots, has landed himself in controversy by a post on Instagram in which he had made anti-India remarks while comparing the country with the USA where he has been staying since past 8 years.
After the post went viral on social media, MLA Umesh Malik, who is quite vocal on different issues has gone silent. Malik is BJP MLA from Budhana constituency in Muzzaffarnagar. In spite of repeated efforts to get his statement, Malik opted not to respond. Even the local BJP leadership has distanced itself from giving any statement and maintained that he should be asked for clarification.
“Since it is his personal issue which has nothing to do with the party hence Umesh Malik only should be asked for a statement,” said Vijay Shukla, BJP district president Muzaffarnagar, refusing to comment on the matter.
Shubham Malik, in his post, wrote, “What USA gave me in the past 8 years Vs what India gave me…. USA gave me respect, education, love, recognition, money, confidence, knowledge, true friends, fame and happiness. While India gave me disrespect, neglecting, hate, ignorance, laughed at me, demotivation, no knowledge, fake friends, obscurity, bullied me and sadness. This is the real reason why I will never come back.”
The matter came to light after this post became viral on social media. Though later the post was deleted. Umesh Malik has now distanced himself from the media. Though he did not respond to our calls and messages but some local media reports quoted him as saying that Shubham’s Instagram account was hacked and the post was not his.
But the questions as to how the post was deleted and has Shubham reported the matter of hacking of his account to the officials in the USA remains unanswered.
Umesh is known for his fiery nationalist remarks and Hindutva is always high on his political agenda. He is also an accused of delivering hate speech in September 2013 during Muzaffarnagar riots and was also arrested for this during Akhilesh Yadav’s regime.
The political rivals too have taken on Umesh in this matter. Senior Congress leader from Muzzaffarnagar and former MP Harendra Malik said that the post is indicative of his upbringing and his family’s culture. Though one has the right to express his or her views but this one is against our motherland.
The political rivals of the BJP MLA are, however, in a mood to raise the issue further and demanding a clarification from him.