New Delhi: Exactly a year ago, on this very day, now BJP leader and then AAP rebel Kapil Mishra showed the world that he is no ordinary fringe but a man with considerable clout. As Mishra’s conduct has come under the scanner of the Delhi High Court, here’s rewinding time:
Mishra tweeted an announcement to his naysayers that the officer who was after him was suspended, a not-so-subtle expression of power that he exercises.
Addressing the tweet to lawyer Prashant Bhushan, former JNUSU leader Shehla Rashid, social activist Kavita Krishnan and journalist Ashutosh, he tweeted, “The man has lost his job who along with you all tried to get me arrested by showing a fake letter. This man @acjoshi is suspended from his job. Now do a new drama. Your shops will also be closed like this.”
Laced with threat, Kapil Mishra bragged the power he exerted.
This too has its roots in one of the videos like the one that has currently brought Mishra under the lens. He posted a video by reciting a poem, heaping praise on PM Narendra Modi where he urged him to deal with the external enemies. However, in the same poem that was recited in the video, Mishra requested the PM to leave it to fellow Indians to deal with those inside the country.
In the video, he is heard saying, the time had come to enter the houses of the “traitors” and attack them.
While that video too created a row, then Department of Telecom (DoT) officer Ashish Joshi took exception and shot off a complaint letter to the Delhi Police Commissioner against Mishra.
In a complaint dated February 25, 2019, Mishra shot off the letter where he complained, “The content of the video is self-explanatory and violates the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and IT Act.”
Within a day, Joshi was suspended for allegedly misusing his position. The complaint letter which was shared on the social media on a massive scale was written on Joshi’s official letterhead. It was found to be in violation of conduct rules.
As a high drama ensued in the Delhi high Court when Justice Muralidhar asked Kapil Mishra’s allegedly inflammatory video to be played, incidentally it turned out to be the anniversary of Mishra’s public muscle flexing.
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too has come out strongly against the BJP and its leader Mishra for the violence in some areas of northeast Delhi. While speaking to the media on Wednesday after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, she said that “no action on Kapil Mishra is as shameful as his statement.”
