Following his remarks, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had to step in, saying that the Jharkhand MP’s remarks were “inappropriate”, while issuing a clarification that the remarks were not intended towards Marathi people.
Another party colleague Ashish Shelar responded to Dubey’s remarks on Friday in the legislative assembly without naming him.
“Some MP from Jharkhand has commented on the work done by Marathi people. I won’t name him—he is not a member of this House. But the Mahayuti and BJP are very clear: anyone can speak within the limits of law, but no one has the right to question the deeds and contribution of Marathi people,” Shelar said.
Highlighting the contributions of the Marathi community, Shelar asserted that the entire country was aware of their contribution to the GDP, adding, “We made the country’s first film and established the first navy. Marathi people do not live on alms given by anyone.”
Dubey’s remarks caused quite a stir, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray also slamming the BJP MP, accusing him of attempting to divide Marathi and Hindi-speaking people with his “shameless” remarks. “Dubey is not the face of North Indians. He represents the BJP,” Thackeray said.
While several BJP spokespersons refused to comment, former president of Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee Rajesh Thakur told ThePrint, “Nishikant Dubey does not have anything in Jharkhand. He is a nuisance for the state. He is nowhere to be seen in the public, and nobody pays him any heed in the BJP. So just to stay in the headlines, he keeps saying things like these.”
“He is only trying to get some visibility to get a spot at the Centre…He is in fact the sort of person who spits at the sky and it falls back on him,” Thakur asserted. He even called for a probe against Dubey for the confidential documents that the latter often posts on his social media handles, and blamed “loudmouths” like him for the BJP falling from 25 seats to 21 seats in Jharkhand assembly polls last year.
Dubey makes headlines almost every other day, often training his guns at the Gandhis. He has, in the past few years, set the agenda for several such public debates, gaining notoriety at the back of contentious commentary.
ThePrint reached out to two BJP spokespersons to seek the party’s views on Nishikant Dubey’s penchant for controversy but they declined to offer any comment.
Dubey began his political journey in 2009, and has won the Godda Lok Sabha constituency in every election since then. From the Supreme Court and former Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna to, his latest political row challenging the Thackerays—Dubey’s diatribes have targeted all and sundry.
From Gandhi to Yogi
Dubey is no stranger to controversy. Back in 2019, he had responded to the Opposition attacks over the state of the country’s economy, asserting that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has no relevance to India, and that it should not be treated as Bible, Ramayan and Mahabharat.
In 2022, Dubey and fellow MP Manoj Tiwari faced an FIR for allegedly forcibly entering the Air Traffic Control office in Jharkhand’s Deoghar and coercing personnel to clear the takeoff for their chartered flight.
The incident had led to a public spat on social media platform X, with then Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Deoghar Manjunath Bhajantri accusing Dubey of having “breached national security” by bypassing safety protocol.
“I’d suggest you study aviation rules again. As an IAS officer, the nation expects better from you,” Dubey had responded. The FIR against Dubey was subsequently quashed by the Jharkhand high court in March 2023, and the quashing was upheld by the Supreme Court in January this year.
Back in 2023, Dubey’s allegations against the Congress in Parliament stirred a hornet’s nest. “…between 2005 and 2014, the Chinese government has paid money to Congress… Congress wants to divide India,” Dubey had alleged. The Congress called the remarks baseless and libelous. His remarks were briefly expunged from the record, only to be restored later.
But it is not just the Opposition who often face Dubey’s barbs. More recently, a video clip of his podcast interview had gone viral. When asked about his thoughts on Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Dubey said, “In 2017, when Yogi ji became the Chief Minister, people did not vote in the name of Yogi. They voted in the name of Prime Minister Modi. Even today, people are voting in the name of PM Modi.”
Also Read: Why Nishikant Dubey won’t be worried about JP Nadda disowning his attack on CJI Khanna and SC
‘SC responsible for wars’
Back in April, Dubey had blamed the Supreme Court for being “solely responsible for inciting religious wars in the country”. His remarks came amid the ongoing hearings in the Supreme Court on the batch of petitions challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. Dubey even blamed former Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna for “all the civil wars in the country”.
“If one has to go to the Supreme Court for everything, then Parliament and State Assembly should be shut,” Dubey had said in an interview to ANI.
The BJP MP had also criticised the Supreme Court’s judgment setting a three-month timeline for the President to decide on Bills referred to her by the Governors. He had alleged that with such orders, the Supreme Court wants to take this country towards “anarchy”.
Hours after his remarks, BJP party president J.P.Nadda distanced the BJP from the remarks, posting on social media platform X that the BJP “has nothing to do with the statements”.
“BJP has always respected the judiciary and gladly accepted its orders and suggestions because, as a party, we believe that all the courts of the country, including the Supreme Court, are an integral part of our democracy and are the strong pillar protecting our Constitution,” the post added, saying that Dubey was instructed to not make such statements.
In May, the Supreme Court pulled up Dubey for his remarks against the apex court and former CJI Sanjiv Khanna. He escaped contempt by a whisker, with the court exercising judicial restraint, and saying that “courts are not as fragile as flowers to wither and wilt under such ludicrous statements”.
However, the court did not shy away from expressing its disapproval, saying that they were “highly irresponsible and reflect a penchant to attract attention by casting aspersions on the Supreme Court of India and the judges of the Supreme Court.”
“This apart, the statements show ignorance about the role of the constitutional courts and the duties and obligations bestowed on them under the Constitution,” the two-judge bench comprising CJI Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar had observed.
‘Muslim Commissioner’
A day after Nadda distanced the party from Dubey’s remarks, the latter had picked up cudgels again— or, maybe he just refuses to ever drop them.
In a post on X, Dubey called former chief election commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi, branding him a “Muslim commissioner”. This was after Quraishi, in a now deleted post, expressed his disapproval of the Waqf Act, saying that the law was “undoubtedly a blatantly sinister evil plan of the government to grab Muslim lands”, and that he is sure that the Supreme Court will call it out.
In response, Dubey had written, “You were not an Election Commissioner, but a Muslim Commissioner; during your tenure, the most Bangladeshi infiltrators were made voters in Jharkhand’s Santhal Pargana.”
In September last year, Dubey also raised concerns over the 1.25 crore feedback submissions received by the joint parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.
He wrote a letter to the parliamentary committee’s chairperson Jagdambika Pal, calling for a home ministry probe into the overwhelming feedback received on the Bill, saying that the probe must look into the possible role of fundamentalist organisations, individuals like radical Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, and foreign powers such as the ISI and China.
He demanded an investigation into the possible involvement of “anti-national forces” behind the feedback. “The need of the hour is that we cannot allow external forces to manipulate our democratic process, and we must take swift action to safeguard the sanctity of Parliament,” his letter was quoted as saying.
Op Bluestar to NRC
In many ways, Dubey’s X account is a chronicler of all his tirades, with the BJP MP posting several times a day, one hit post after another.
For instance, on 7 July, he claimed that the British assisted India in the Operation Bluestar carried out at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984.
He shared a “top secret” British document from February 1984, titled ‘Sikh Community’. This document claimed that the Indian authorities had “sought British advice over a plan to remove Sikh extremists from the Golden Temple in Amritsar”.
Attaching this document, Dubey now wrote: “In 1984, Indira Gandhi launched an attack on the Golden Temple in collaboration with Britain, with British army officers present in Amritsar at that time. For Congress, the Sikh community is merely a toy.”
In another post made last month, Dubey called the Congress “the assassin of the Constitution”, sharing an old statement from Russian president Vladimir Putin following his meeting with former Congress president Sonia Gandhi in 2005. Dubey questioned that while Manmohan Singh was the PM then, “who was making the country’s decisions, Sonia Gandhi ji?”
However, his comments off X also often make headlines.
Last year, Dubey had called for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Jharkhand, during a speech in the Lok Sabha. He had blamed “Bangladeshi intruders” for an alleged rise in Muslim population as compared to the tribal population in the state.
Dubey had reiterated these assertions in March, telling PTI that it was time for the central government to consider an NRC in Jharkhand, blaming “Bangladeshi intruders” for completely changing the demography of the state.
Knocking Speaker & Lokpal’s door
It is not just external institutions, but also his fellow parliamentarians who have been irked by Dubey in the past.
In 2023, Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, igniting what is now known as the ‘cash for query’ case. Dubey alleged that Trinamool MP and bête noire Mahua Moitra received bribes from Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani, in exchange for allowing her to ask questions in the Parliament. Dubey relied on the allegations made against her by Supreme Court lawyer and ‘jilted ex’ Jai Anant Dehadrai. The complaint was taken up by an Ethics Committee, after which Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha.
In the meantime, Moitra approached the Delhi High Court, demanding a restraint on Dubey and Dehadrai and others from posting any defamatory content and publishing a public apology to her. While this suit remains pending, Moitra filed another application for removal of allegedly defamatory posts made against her by Dubey and Dehadrai, who then told the court that the impugned posts had been deleted.
It was Dubey who also filed a complaint against Moitra before the Lokpal, on the basis of a letter sent by Dehadrai.
Dubey was also the complainant in another case before the Lokpal in 2020— one that he filed against Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren. The complaint alleged that Soren had indulged in rampant corruption and amassed huge wealth, assets and properties, disproportionate to known and declared sources of income, by adopting unscrupulous and corrupt means, in his own name and the names of his family members, friends, associates and various companies.
In an order passed on 4 March 2024, the Lopal had then ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate two such properties acquired in JMM’s name. However, on the JMM appeal challenging the Lokpal’s order, the Delhi High Court directed the Lokpal to not take any steps against JMM till the next date of hearing, which was in May 2024. This interim protection still remains in place.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Exhuming the past: BJP targets decisions of previous govts to singe Congress in Op Sindoor slugfest
