AMBALA: Haryana home and health minister Anil Vij, a senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday sparked another controversy with his tweet saying that “anti-national” people like Disha Ravi should be destroyed from roots and received flak from Twitter users who raised sharp questions to the minister including some prominent faces.
Tweeting on the arrest of climate change activist Disha Ravi by the Delhi Police in a case of social media amplification campaign to amplify voices of farmers protesting against Centre's three contentious farm laws, Anil Vij on Monday tweeted, “Desh virodh ka beej jiske bhi dimaag mei ho uska samool nash kar dena chahiye fir chahe veh #Disha_Ravi ho ya koyi aur.” – “Whoever has the anti-national seed in brain, they should be destroyed from their roots, whether it is Disha_Ravi or anyone else.”
Following Vij's tweet, Twitter notified the minister, who later shared the responds of the microblogging platform.
When contacted for his views on the tweet, Anil Vij at his residence in Ambala said, “I do not say that objecting to government’s policies is a crime. It is democracy and anybody can object to any issue. But conspiring with foreign powers to raise an objection comes under the category of anti-national. If we do not stop this and take action immediately, it will spread like a contagious disease. It is not in the interest of the nation. Therefore, the strictest action should be taken against such people. Those people who are supporting such people should be identified by the nation. Whether it is Priyanka Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi or Kejriwal. As they are provoking people for treason. Their motive should be identified and they should be strongly condemned and disdained in the country.”
As soon as Vij’s tweet came into the public domain, it started receiving sharp questions from the Twitter user, who even asked him to remove the same.
A Twitter user @rajnish1Midas having 1,608 followers commented, “KINDLY WITHDRAW THIS TWEET. its not in in line with your responsibility & protector of civil rights of all citizens as a minister who has taken oath to protect the constitution of India. Law shall take it's own course. What you say here doesn't make sense. Rest your choice.”
Freelance journalist Ajit Anjum @ajitanjum having 857K Twitter followers questioned Vij about how to destroy, he wrote, “Kaise nash karna hai? Mob lynching se? Supari dekar? Jail mei jeevan bhar sadakar?” – “How to destroy> By mob lynching? By contract killing? By rotting in jail for the whole life?”
Indian National Congress leader from Tamil Nadu, Mohan Kumaramangalam @Mkumaramangalam gave reaction, “A minister in haryana believes #DishaRavi must be destroyed. Take it from me, haryana will give BJP a befitting reply in the next polls and this man will be an unknown bottom feeder for the remainder of his life”
Ravinder Singh @RaviSinghKA of Khalsa Aid reacted to Vij, “When an indian government minister calls for murder .... This rings so many bells from 1930s Nazi Germany ! What’s @Twitter doing about it !”
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor @ShashiTharoor tweeted, “Surely tweets like this are far more harmful to our democracy than anything in the “toolkit” @DISHARAVI21 retweeted?”
On the other side, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal @ArvindKejriwal tweeted about the arrest of Disha Ravi, “Arrest of 21 yr old Disha Ravi is an unprecedented attack on Democracy. Supporting our farmers is not a crime.”
INC leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra @priyankagandhi tweeted on Disha Ravi, “Darte hain bandookon vale ek nihathi ladki se faile hain himmat ke ujale ek nihathi ladki se” - “Those with guns are feared from an unarmed girl, the light of courage is spread by an girl.”