Zee Media Bureau/Sushmita Dutta
New Delhi: Ahead of the Assembly Elections in the national capital, a major controversy broke on Tuesday over the meeting between the Aaam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal and Muslim cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, according to news reports.
This meeting which was held on Friday was two-hours long and has lead to a huge political controversy today.
According to the news reports, Kejriwal has approached cleric Maulana Tauqeer Rana to campaign for his party for the upcoming Assembly Elections.
Reports suggest that the Muslim cleric is known for having issued fatwas. The cleric had earlier hit headlines for issuing fatwas and announcing bounty for beheading Bangladeshi controversial author Taslima Nasreen.
The chances are very high that Maulana Tauqeer may campaign for AAP in Delhi, as per a TV news channel report.
Maulana Khan, who is from a prominent family of clerics with a large number of Sunni Muslim followers in Bareilly, also heads a political outfit called the Ittehad-e-Millat Council, which had won a single Assembly seat in UP in last year`s elections.
Amidst criticism over this meeting, the activist-turned-politician Kejriwal said, "I met him (Maulana Tauqeer) in Bareilly because he is the head of the place and appealed for support. There is nothing communal about it. We go to temples and mosques to meet people and seek their support."
Reacting sharply over this issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vijender Gupta said, "Kejriwal goes and meets a Maulana who speaks a language worse than terrorists. AAP have fallen to this level for votes."
Another BJP leader Subramanian Swamy attacked AAP party and alleged it was working hand-in-glove with the Congress.
Addressing a press conference he said, "Although the AAP talked of corruption it had not pursued any of the cases to logical conclusion."
"They talk about corruption, but do not take any case to its logical conclusion. Did they go to the court (in the Robert Vadra case). They just shoot and scoot," Swamy added.
Meanwhile, the Congress dubbed the Aaam Aadmi Party as the "B team of BJP."
Congress spokesman Meem Afzal alleged that Kejriwal whose politics originated with the backing of the RSS was trying to make Muslims "a football" for electoral mileage.
