After casting aspersions on his Dalit identity, Aam Aadmi Party supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday once against brought BJP Lok Sabha candidate Sufi singer Hansraj Hans under the line of fire saying Dalits will take revenge on the BJP decision for bringing in an outsider.
The singer belongs to Punjab and Kejriwal said that people of Delhi's Dalit community are "very angry" with the BJP because the seat -- North West Delhi -- reserved for Scheduled Castes was given to an outsider.
"The Dalit community in Delhi is very angry with the BJP. There is a Dalit seat in Delhi -- the BJP has fielded somebody from Punjab in this seat. The BJP was not able to find a Dalit in the capital worthy of giving ticket. In the eyes of the BJP, Delhi's Dalits were not worth becoming an MP. Dalits will take revenge for this insult," he tweeted.
Hans is pitted against AAP's Gugan Singh and Congress' Rajesh Lilothia. BJP had denied ticket to its sitting MP Udit Raj, who joined Congress after the snub.
On Thursday, Aam Aadmi Party used media reports of 2014 to suggest that the singer had converted to Islam and could be ineligible to contest from the constituency reserved for Dalits. Kejriwal had tweeted, "Hans Raj Hans is ineligible to fight from a reserved seat. He will finally be declared ineligible. Voters from North West Delhi should not waste their votes on him."
While there were media reports about the singer embracing Islam during a visit to Pakistan, Hans and his sons had denied in 2014 itself that he has not converted. "I respect Islam but the news that I have embraced Islam has no truth," the singer was quoted as saying.