New Delhi: Assam BJP has suspended its state executive member Benazir Arfan for showing solidarity with Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar.
Arfan, associated with the party since 2012, claims she was served the suspension letter through WhatsApp on Thursday by BJP state president Ranjeet Kumar Das.
"I have been insulted and will take this issue up at the highest level of the party," she told News 18.
Arfan had participated in a meeting organised in support of refugees displaced by ethnic violence in Myanamar's Rakhine province. Some of these refugees have entered India, and a petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against government's decision to send back Rohingya refugees from India.
"I posted a message on Facebook asking people to join in. Inadvertently, I used the wrong word 'protests' for what was a prayer meeting," says Arfan.
The program was organised by the United Minority Peoples Forum, a Guwahati-based NGO. The post that she shared stirred controversy in the local BJP unit as it went against the Centre’s decision to block the entry of Rohingya refugees to India.
Her suspension letter reads: "As a BJP member you posted on social media seeking support for a program organised by another organisation in connection with a problem related to Myanmar, you did not initiate any discussion about it at any party platform."
The letter further said, "Since your act is against the party's rules and ideology, you have been relieved of all responsibilities and have been suspended from the party."
Countering the charge, Arfan said, "The whole exercise is driven by personal gains. The local BJP unit is driven with favouritism and anyone who questions the powers that be will be pulled up for small mistakes like I have been."
News 18 tried to get in touch with Ranjeet Kumar Das, head of Assam BJP, but there was no response.
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