New Delhi: Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi with party candidate Manoj Tiwari during a rally for Lok Sabha elections, at Kartar Nagar in New Delhi, Saturday, May 18, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
BJP candidate from the North East Delhi Lok Sabha seat Manoj Tiwari on Sunday said the fight in his constituency is between those who promote "tukde-tukde" (divisive) ideology and those who chant "Bharat Mata Ki Jai".
The Congress has pitted Kanhaiya Kumar against the BJP's Tiwari who is seeking a hattrick of victory in North East Delhi Lok Sabha seat.
Campaigning for the BJP in the constituency, Union Minister Giriraj Singh referred to his victory against Kumar in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Bihar's Begusarai.
"A person's poster has been pasted in Begusarai who is a member of the tukde-tukde gang and is missing there. He has changed the party now," he said.
Kumar contested against Singh in 2019 as a CPI candidate. He later crossed over to the Congress.
The former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president was charged with sedition by the Delhi Police over "anti-India slogans" that were allegedly raised on the university campus on February 9, 2016.
At a poll rally here, Tiwari said, "This election is not between Manoj Tiwari and the candidate of the other party. This is between those who say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and those of the 'tukde-tukde' gang."
Addressing a poll meeting Giriraj Singh referred to the violence in Jahangirpuri on Hanuman Jayanti a few years ago and said, "When people say that we talk about Hindu-Muslim issues, I want to ask, has Manoj Tiwari ever set fire to anywhere in Jahangirpuri? No, he hasn't."
"If you want to criticize, then criticize me. But put your hand on your heart and ask, what is the solution to this? The solution is that we come together and use the power of voting against the terrorist mentality and ensure the victory of Sanatan culture," he said.
North East Delhi was rocked by a communal riot in the backdrop of the anti-CAA protest in 2020 in which over 50 were killed, and hundreds injured.
"There is a force working within India to break the country. It is my duty that if anyone conspires to break the country, I will have to answer too," Singh said.
"No one thought that Article 370 would be abrogated but it was done. No one thought that the Ram temple would be built but it has become a reality," he said, adding that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes to power for the third time, India will emerge as the world's greatest power.