Sri Vijaya Puram, Oct 9: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday defended its state president Anil Kumar Tiwari over a controversial remark that triggered criticism from the Congress, alleging that portions of his speech were selectively edited and circulated to mislead the public.
Addressing a press conference at the party office, Tiwari said his remarks were made during an organisational meeting held on September 26 and were directed at party workers and elected representatives who allegedly engage in cross-voting after winning elections on the BJP symbol. He denied that his comments were intended to target ordinary voters or supporters of any political party.
Tiwari said the circulated video did not present the complete context of his statement and alleged that parts of his speech had been removed to create a misleading impression. He urged the media and the public to examine the complete recording of the meeting before drawing conclusions.
Explaining the context, Tiwari said the BJP was a cadre-based party driven by an ideology and that internal organisational meetings were forums for discussing discipline and accountability among party workers. He alleged that some representatives who won elections using the BJP symbol and the support of party workers later cross-voted in favour of the Congress or other parties in elections to local bodies, including district councils and municipal institutions.
He said his remarks were intended to address such conduct and not to make personal attacks on political opponents or the electorate.
Tiwari also referred to his long political career, stating that he had been active in public life since 1965. He maintained that his speeches had consistently focused on political issues and that he had not resorted to personal attacks against opposition leaders or abusive language against the public.
The BJP leadership said the press conference was convened to clarify the controversy and place the party’s version of events before the media. Party representatives also referred to the complete video recording of the organisational meeting as necessary context for understanding the disputed remarks.
During the interaction, Tiwari criticised the Congress for making the edited video a political issue. He accused the opposition party of attempting to damage the BJP’s image and urged people not to be misled by what he described as a selective presentation of his statement.
Tiwari also addressed the Congress’s allegations concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He defended the exercise as a process intended to update and clean up voter lists, including the removal of duplicate entries and the names of deceased persons.
Rejecting the Congress’s claims of widespread voter deletions, he challenged the party to produce evidence from voters who could establish that their names had been wrongly removed. He argued that electoral roll revision was not a new process and maintained that legitimate corrections were necessary to ensure the accuracy of voter lists.
His claims regarding the scale of alleged voter deletions and the effectiveness of the revision exercise were not independently established at the press conference.
Tiwari further cautioned that advances in artificial intelligence had made it increasingly important for the public to verify videos and audio recordings before accepting them as authentic or complete. He alleged that the circulation of the disputed clip illustrated how selective editing could alter the perceived meaning of a statement.
Reiterating his position, he said every citizen had the right to vote for the political party of their choice, including the BJP, Congress, CPI(M) or other parties. He also referred to the None of the Above (NOTA) option available to voters who do not wish to support any candidate.
District council member Sunil Khardar, district president Naresh Khardar and party spokesperson S. B. Alangho were also present at the press conference and shared their views on the controversy.
The BJP maintained that Tiwari’s remarks had been taken out of context and called for the complete recording to be considered while assessing the controversy.
