The BJP came down heavily upon the opposition, including AAP, TMC and Shiv Sena-led MVA, and said that the champions of free speech are real threat to “freedom of expression and plurality”.
“From MVA to AAP to TMC, political actors from across opposition parties have gone on an overdrive against criticism & frivolous social media posts,” Union minister and BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan said in a tweet.
He also hit out at the political leaders like NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Arvind Kejriwal over “slapgates, witch-hunts, arrests and diatribes”.
“Not an advocate of derogatory comments and posts promoting hate, but the likes of #SharadPawar & #ArvindKejriwal have taken it too far with slapgates, witch-hunts, arrests and diatribes. Is their esteem so fragile? Classic case of what happens when ego spirals out of control,” he said in another tweet.
The tweets came days after BJP leader Vinayak Ambekar was slapped by NCP workers over his social media post against Pawar. Ambekar, who is a BJP spokesperson, lodged a complaint with Pune police accusing some 20 NCP workers of entering his office and beating him up. He alleged that NCP MP Girish Bapat asked him to apologise for his social media post.
Pradhan’s all-out attack also came days after Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga was arrested by Punjab Police from his home in Delhi on May 6, evoking a war of words between BJP and AAP. He was brought back to the national capital by Delhi Police hours later.
Bagga was booked under relevant IPC sections, including 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place, etc.), 505 (whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
The April 1 FIR referred to Bagga’s remarks on March 30, when he was part of a BJP youth wing protest outside the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence.
The recent arrest of lawmaker couple Navneet Rana and Ravi Rani by Mumbai police over the Hanumna Chalisa row also triggered an exchange of barbs between the BJP and Shiv Sena-led MVA governmentin Maharahsra.
The couple was arrested following their public announcement of reciting Hanuman Chalisa outside Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s official residence ‘Matoshree’.
