BJP slams AAP MLA Amantuallah Khan for his tweet, asks Assembly panel for action against him

The Delhi BJP slammed AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan over his tweet on Saturday and asked the Assembly's peace and harmony committee to take action against him.

Khan, who is also chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board, in a tweet sought to defend AAP councilor Tahir Hussain, arrested in connection with the killing of Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma during the recent violence in northeast Delhi.

"Tahir Hussain is facing the punishment just because he is a Muslim. Perhaps, being a Muslim is the biggest crime in India today. It may happen in coming time that it is proved that the violence in Delhi was incited by Tahir Hussain," Khan tweeted in Hindi.

Hussain was sent to police custody for a week by a city court on Friday. He was arrested on Thursday after a court here dismissed his plea seeking to surrender before it in connection with the murder case.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor demanded action against Khan in a letter to Saurabh Bhardwaj, chairman of the Assembly's peace and harmony committee.

"Today, Delhi's MLA Amanatullah Khan wrote a tweet which is very venomous and aimed at inciting Muslims. I believe you will agree with me and take punitive action against MLA Amanatullah Khan through the committee," Kapoor said in his letter.

The Delhi Assembly's peace and harmony committee will on March 10 launch a mobile number and an email ID for people to complain against hate messages and fake news on social media in the wake of the recent communal violence in parts of northeast Delhi.

The committee, formed recently in the wake of the riots, has issued an email ID and a whatsapp number to receive complaints regarding social media content that could lead to enmity between different communities.

Another Delhi BJP leader Kapil Mishra, who is himself facing allegations of inciting violence, also assailed Khan and sought to know from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal if the MLA's view was the AAP's official party line.