Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee Saturday alleged that BJP has direct links to the gruesome murder in Udaipur and said the saffron party is "spewing" hatred to divide the nation.
Banerjee in a tweet attached two photos of one of the accused in the brutal killing of the tailor, Kanhaiya Lal in Rajasthan city. The accused is seen allegedly in the company of local BJP leaders at functions held in the past.
Hitting out at the saffron party, the TMC leader tweeted "No, they (BJP) don’t want unity. No, they don’t want harmony. No, they don’t want democracy. They want to divide the nation," the TMC leader tweeted.
"Responsible for spewing hate, unleashing propaganda, and divisive politics, @BJP4India is directly linked to the gruesome #UdaipurHorror, See for yourself," he wrote and shared the photos.
In the photos, one of the accused in the murder is seen with an elderly local BJP leader wearing a saffron turban and sporting a scarf with its lotus symbol on it. At least three others in the photo are seen to be wearing similar scarves.
In another group photo, the accused is seen posing with a group of men all flaunting saffron scarves. In the third, the accused is seen brandishing a sharp-edged weapon.
Kanhaiya Lal was hacked to death on Tuesday afternoon by two cleaver-wielding men, who posted online a grisly video of the crime saying they were avenging an insult to Islam. The killing has sparked widespread outrage.
The two accused Riyaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad were arrested hours after the incident while fleeing on a motorcycle. Two more people, who were allegedly involved in a recce of Kanhaiya's shop and in the conspiracy to kill him, were also arrested later. The four were, on Saturday, remanded to police custody till July 12.
The Congress on Saturday alleged that the main accused in the Kanhaiya Lal murder case in Udaipur was a member of the BJP, which dismissed the claim as 'fake news" and an attempt to deflect attention from the 'failures" of Ashok Gehlot's government in Rajasthan.
BJP's IT cell chief Amit Malviya said the accused were not BJP members and the opposition party should "stop fooling around" on matters related to national security.
"Anyone can have a photo with any leader. It does not mean that he is a member of the BJP," Mohammad Sadiq Khan, Rajasthan president of the BJP Minority Morcha said to Congress' media department head Pawan Khera citing Facebook posts showing Akhtari with local BJP leaders.
