NEW DELHI: As the firebrand youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar was announced as the Congress candidate from the northeast Delhi parliamentary constituency to take on actor-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari, terms like “tukde-tukde” gang have made an entry in the poll campaigns of the BJP.
The Congress had a day ago announced its three candidates for the general elections in Delhi, fielding besides Kanhaiya, former MP JP Agarwal from Chandni Chowk, and Udit Raj for North West
While there was not much hullabaloo on Aggarwal and Raj’s contestation among the saffron clans, Kanhaiya being given the ticket has made BJP go all guns blazing at the grand-old party as the former student leader has since past half a decade remained a prime political target of right leaning parties.
The 37-year-old Congress leader, for the first time, hit headlines when he was arrested by the Delhi Police in a case alleged “anti-India sloganeering” at the JNU campus. He was the president of JNUSU then. The varsity received serious political attention after February 9, 2016 when the ‘Azadi’ slogans rented air of the campus.
The term ‘Tukde-Tukde gang’ is often used to brand the left-leaning alliances in JNU. It was coined after those slogans were raised and is now being used by the BJP to target Kanhaiya in the ongoing polls.
An RTI request was filed by TMC leader Saket Gokhle in the Ministry of Home Affairs querying the particulars of the “tukde tukde gang” and whether it was banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The Ministry, in its reply in January 2020, said it had “no information concerning tukde-tukde gang.”
“Congress has given a Lok Sabha ticket from North East Delhi to Kanhaiya Kumar, the leader of the Tukde-Tukde gang who called the Indian Army rapists,” the Delhi BJP wrote on X along with sharing a purported video of Kumar where he is heard saying “...women are raped in Kashmir by security forces..”
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva equated the contest on the northeast Delhi seat as a fight between Santana and those who are against India.
“By giving a ticket to Kanhaiya Kumar, who is against the Indian Army and a threat to the integrity of the country, the real face of Congress has come to the fore. Congress and AAP should answer why they gave a ticket to Kanhaiya Kumar, the symbol of the Tukde-Tukde gang,” Sachdeva said.