Twitter was on Tuesday awash with posts that called Delhi chief minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal a “Sanghi”, a term that is loosely used by Islamists and liberals online to refer to people belonging to non-left sections.
#KejriwalSanghiHai and its Hindi version #केजरीवालसंघीहै started doing the rounds on Twitter as a bevy of social media users, apparently, Muslims slammed the Delhi chief minister for not expressing his condemnation over the anti-Muslim slogans that were raised in the national capital’s Jantar Mantar earlier on August 8 (Sunday).
Disgruntled by the fact that Arvind Kejriwal chose to maintain a stoic silence over the incident, a large number of seemingly Muslim social media users took to Twitter to express their disapproval with the Aam Aadmi Party chief.
Many users commented that Kejriwal is a Sanghi because he did not denounce the anti-Muslim slogans raised in Delhi.
https://twitter.com/makhdoom_irfani/status/1425021153945407497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/MAQMisbahi/status/1425024548185927684?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/MehekF/status/1425044665196322816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/ImranDinajpuri/status/1425022997245558787?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwIslamists had criticised Arvind Kejriwal earlier as well
Islamists had slammed Arvind Kejriwal when he asked the Muslim community to celebrate Shab-e-Baarat indoors in April last year during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Delhi CM was also criticised for apparently not supporting the Shaheen Bagh protesters and the Jamia rioters.
He was called a ‘Sanghi snake’ for claiming that the anti-CAA protests were sponsored by the BJP. During the run up to the Delhi elections, Kejriwal had resorted to singing the Hanuman Chalisa on news channels to appeal to Hindu voters. But in doing so, he had incurred the wrath of Islamists on social media.
Arvind Kejriwal and his anti-Hindu tilt
The Islamists might be far more displeased knowing Arvind Kejriwal’s pronounced anti-Hindu bent. Several times in the Kejriwal have been seen making Hinduphobic comments. Additionally, radical Islamists like Amanatulla Khan and Delhi anti-Hindu riot accused Tahir Khan, who have brandished their anti-Hindu credentials loud and clear, continue to be one of Kejriwal’s family.
Kejriwal had earlier questioned the construction of Ram Mandir. In another instance, when leftist students at JNU had attacked ABVP students in January 2020 over semester form, Kejriwal had shared a cartoon that showed how Lord Hanuman ‘set fire’ to JNU as a distraction. Ahead of the 2019 general elections, Kejriwal had shared an image where a man with a broom can be seen hitting the Swastika symbol, a symbol holy to Hindus, Buddhists and Jains.
Controversy surrounding anti-Muslim slogans raised in Delhi
Meanwhile, speaking about the recent controversy over the anti-Muslim slogans raised in Jantar Mantar, a video showing a group of people shouting inflammatory slogans and threatening Muslims went viral on social media with claims that it is from the event which was organised by the BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay in Jantar Mantar against ‘Colonial-era laws’ on Sunday.
Ashwini Upadhyay, who had organised a rally to seek the repealing of colonial-era laws and to make laws uniform for all citizens across India, had clearly disassociated himself with the people who reportedly raised the communal slogans. Despite this, the Supreme Court lawyer and BJP leader, along with five others were formally arrested by the Delhi Police on August 10 (Tuesday).
As per reports, Upadhyay was summoned at 3 am for examination by the Connaught Place police station.
The other detained persons have been identified as Deepak Singh Hindu, Vineet Kranti, Preet Singh and Vinod Sharma, who is the head of Sudarshan Vahini.