On Monday, BJP picked Dalit leader Ram Nath Kovind for the post of India’s president, a move which came as a surprise to many. Naturally everyone had an opinion about the decision and social media was brimming with comments.
However, amongst the volley of reactions, there was one tweet which certainly didn’t go down well with the BJP. On Monday, journalist Rana Ayub took a dig at BJP’s presidential choice and tweeted this:
Miffed with the comment, Bharatiya Janata Party Spokesperson Nupur Sharma on Monday night registered a police complaint against Ayyub for what she called a “defamatory, hate-filled and derogatory” tweet about Ram Nath Kovind.
Sharma in her complaint, said that Ayyub’s tweet reflected an “extremely casteist, hateful and disrespectful mindset she harbours against members of the Scheduled castes”.
“To classify a sitting and incumbent Hon’ble Governer of Bihar and now NDA nominee for post of President of India, namely Shri Ram Nath Kovind ji, as “Worst Best” for the post of Hon’ble President of India is not only directly undermining the abilities and position in society of a member of the Scheduled Castes but is also blatantly and scurrilously slanderous and casteist”, the complaint further reads.
Soon after the complaint, Ayyub responded with a series of cheeky tweets
This is how people and fellow journalists slammed BJP and Nupur Sharma for inflating the whole issue and pointing out how frivolous how the whole exercise is
Also, it wasn’t just Rana Ayyub who compared Kovind to Pratibha Patil and questioned BJP’s choice. So, will the BJP file a complaint against all of them?
The rivalry between BJP and journalist Rana Ayyub is nothing new.
Upsetting BJP supporters, Rana has written a book on 2002 Gujarat riots, Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up which allegedly comprise transcripts of a sting operation she had conducted in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Ayyub is also known to mock and criticise BJP and the Modi government on social media platforms. In 2015, she came under fire for falsely naming the RSS chief in a nun rape case in 2015.