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‘Message to tease Hindus’: BJP on AIMIM naming Delhi riots accused as assembly poll candidate
Tahir Hussain, former AAP councillor, is currently lodged in judicial custody in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots cases.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday hit out at the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) announced the candidature of 2020 Delhi riots accused Tahir Hussain for the upcoming assembly elections in the capital.
"It’s a message to tease the Hindus," PTI quoted BJP MP Sambit Patra as saying.
Hussain joined the party and will be the AIMIM candidate from Mustafabad assembly constituency for the Delhi elections. The seat was won by Aam Aadmi Party's Haji Yunus in the 2020 assembly elections.
“He will be our candidate from Mustafabad Assembly Constituency in the upcoming Delhi Vidhan Sabha elections. His family members and supporters met with me today and joined the party,” AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said in an X post on Monday.
“Let us also send out our message: ‘Ek hain toh safe hain’ (united we are safe). Otherwise, people like Tahir Hussain are trying their best to break the unity and integrity of the country by staying behind bars even after playing with the Constitution,” Patra said.
The BJP leader also hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), seeking the opinion of its convenor Arvind Kejriwal on AIMIM fielding Hussain.
Tahir Hussain, former AAP councillor, is currently lodged in judicial custody in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots cases.
He was expelled from the AAP after his name figured in connection with the riots. Hussain was granted bail by a city court in one of the 2020 Delhi riots cases earlier in May.
The court had said that Hussain’s role in the riots was "remote in nature" and he had already spent more than three years in custody.
Earlier this month, the Delhi high court quashed an FIR against Hussain observing the existence of a similar case against him.
More than 50 people were killed and hundreds injured in the communal violence that erupted days after the assembly polls in February 2020.
Hussain, however, remained behind bars in other cases of rioting.
AAP's response on Tahir Hussain's candidature
Aam Aadmi Party's spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar hit out at the BJP after AIMIM announced Tahir Hussain as its candidate.
“It's a part of the BJP's negative strategy. Wherever BJP starts losing, they bring more parties to contest elections. They (BJP) brought BSP and AIMIM in the Lok Sabha elections. When you see the data, it shows that whenever AIMIM fielded its candidates, it has benefited the BJP,” she was quoted by ANI as saying.
