The Ministry of Home Affairs in a reply to an RTI said that it had no information on any ‘tukde-tukde gang,’ a term that has been used extensively by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and the Home Minister, Amit Shah, to attack opponents.
The RTI application was filed by activist Saket Gokhle on December 26 last year. Gokhale received the reply almost after a month in one line – ‘Ministry of Home Affairs has no information concerning tukde-tukde gang.’
Responding to the RTI’s reply by the home ministry, Gokhle said that the ‘tukde-tukde gang’ does not officially exist & is merely a figment of Amit Shah’s imagination.
PEOPLE – IT’S OFFICIALThe Home Ministry has responded to my RTI saying: ‘Ministry of Home Affairs has no information concerning tukde-tukde gang.’Maanyavar is a liar. The ‘tukde tukde gang’ does not officially exist & is merely a figment of Amit Shah’s imagination. pic.twitter.com/yaUGjrqI4f
â Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) January 20, 2020
He also said that he will ask the Election Commission to take steps against the home minister for his recent statement – ‘The Tukde-Tukde Gang of Delhi needs to be taught a lesson and punished.’
After the parliament passed the new Citizenship Act which fast-tracks the citizenship to non-muslim persecuted minorities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, nationwide protests erupted in the country condemning the Act. Union Home Minister had blamed the Congress and ‘tukde-tukde gang’ for the protest.
‘I hope the EC takes some action. If not, we can always approach the judiciary. I will talk to the people who have been referred to as the ‘tukde-tukde gang’ and we will file a defamation case because this needs to stop now,’ News18 quoted Gokhale.
The BJP started using the phrase after the ‘anti-national slogans’ were allegedly raised at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 2016.
On January 6, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, who is also an alumnus of the university, said that there was no ‘tukde-tukde gang’ at JNU when he was a student there.
He made the statement, a day after masked mobs armed with iron rods attacked the students and teachers present inside the campus.
Also Read: Time To Punish Tukde-Tukde Gang For Anti-CAA Protests: Home Minister Amit Shah
