Delhi candidate Kanhaiya Kumar attacked during campaign

Former student leader and Congress’ candidate for north-east Delhi, Kanhaiya Kumar was attacked by 7-8 BJP men as he continued his campaigning in the city for the 18th Lok Sabha elections. The author of the book titled ‘From Bihar to Tihar,’ was just leaving from the New Usmanpur area with Chhaya Gaurav Sharma, the AAP councillor from Brahmapuri, when Kumar was garlanded with flowers soon after which the very same people threw ink at him and attacked him. A complaint has been filed Sharma, who says she herself also faced the attack and her husband was threatened. The complaint mentions that three other women were also injured, including one journalist who fell in the drain during the course of the attack. 

The attackers said that they attacked Kumar because he had given anti-India slogans earlier. The alleged attacker is referring to the 2016 incident at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University where the media had raised allegations about anti-national, separatist slogans being raised at the university. Kumar, who was the student union president, along with other students, had been arrested in the case that followed. 

Recently, during the course of an investigation, a forensic report has revealed that that it was a close aide of the then Human Resource Department Minister Smriti Irani, Shilpe Tewari, has come under  the focus of the investigation in relation to some doctored videos of the event. These videos, now considered to be doctored, which had been circulated around by media in the aftermath of the event had been used to accuse the students at the university of making anti-India slogans. 

According to Hate Detectors, the two now detained for attacking the MP candidate call themselves ‘Sanatani’ and ‘Kattar Hindu’ respectively. They both are public Instagram figures it seems, as one of them has over 11000 followers, and the other has over 300,000. They have both claimed responsibility for the attack in a video shared by them. They say they have given Kumar a ‘treatment’ for his ‘anti-India’ talks. 

The north-east Delhi police commissioner has stated that the videos of the incident are being examined and an investigation is underway. 

As of now the Congress has claimed that the attackers belong to the BJP, and especially to those known by the north-east Delhi’s current MP Manoj Tiwari and the candidate opposite Kumar. However the party’s office has denied such claims and stated that the Congress party is spreading rumours.  Delhi goes to vote for the country’s Lok Sabha elections on May 25, on the sixth phase. 

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