Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday criticised the BJP over the murder of an Apple executive in Uttar Pradesh, saying the saffron party does not protect the interests of even Hindus.
“Vivek Tiwari was a Hindu. Then, why did they kill him? The BJP is not a well-wisher of the Hindus. They (BJP) will not even think for two minutes if they have to kill all Hindus to grab power,” said Kejriwal, who also spoke to Tiwari’s wife on telephone. Kejriwal’s tweets drew sharp reaction from the BJP. Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari on Twitter asked AAP workers to see how “narrow-minded” Kejriwal was.
The Chief Minister’s observations elicited much criticism online with cyber folks accusing him of being “silent” on the alleged stabbing of 23-year-old Ankit Saxena by the family of his Muslim girlfriend in west Delhi’s Raghubir Nagar earlier this year. Even Tiwari’s widow, Kalpana, frowned at Kejriwal’s statement. “He does not know what I am going through. No politics should be played over my husband’s death. Please.’’ On Twitter, BJP supporters shredded Kejriwal’s comment using the hashtag #VultureKejriwal, which became one of the top trending topics with nearly 10,000 posts.
Tiwari was allegedly shot dead for not stopping his car at a police checkpoint in Lucknow’s Gomtinagar area early on Saturday. While the constable alleged that the victim had rammed into a motorcycle and tried to “run over them”, a co-passenger in the vehicle said they had not even realised that they were being flagged down. His body was cremated at Bhaisakund in the presence of state minister Brijesh Pathak and local MLA Ashutosh Tondon, among others. Although both Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the UP police chief have expressed regrets, the controversy is yet to die down.