Stop making damaging statements, Amit Shah to partymen

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah Thursday admitted that the statements of some party leaders on religious conversions were damaging the party's image.

"When our MLAs or MPs give such statements, it damages the BJP," he told a news conference here.

Shah said he had advised his colleagues many times to exercise restraint while speaking.

On BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj's statement appealing to every Hindu to have four children, Shah said the party doesn't agree. "It was his individual statement. The BJP doesn't agree with it."

He, however, said that such statements would have no impact on the development agenda of the government. "Sakshi Maharaj is for media," he quipped.

Declining to comment on Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi's remarks on 'ghar wapsi', Shah said forcible conversion can be stopped only with a strong and comprehensive law.

He said it was unfortunate that no a single "so-called secular party" had come forward to support the government's suggestion in parliament for bringing anti-conversion law.

"Will forcible conversions stop by debate in media? Is the media going to run this country or the law? If the law has to run it, then we need a strong and comprehensive legislation," he said.