Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Health and Family Planning, has lodged a complaint with Delhi Police, hours after her alleged anti-Muslim tweets made her a target for trolling and criticism on Twitter.
Patel, who became the youngest minister to be inducted in the Cabinet after the reshuffle, wrote a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma, specifically mentioning about a controversial tweet by a handle named @Anupriya_Patel.
[Translation: We’ve been destroyed by the traitors, otherwise who thought that hundred crore people would be afraid of twenty crore mullahs (muslims).]The controversial tweet targeting persons from the community was later deleted.
In her complaint, Patel (36), a first-time MP from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, told the Delhi Police chief, “There are several fake Twitter accounts active in my name, and I bring this to your notice that in future they might be used to tarnish my social and political image.”
“My official Twitter handle is @AnupriyaSPatel. A handle named @Anupriya_Patel has posted an insulting tweet. A snapshot of the same has been attached with the complaint.
Kindly investigate the matter at the earliest,” the complaint read
The controversial tweet targeting persons from the community was later deleted. The Lok Sabha MP from Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, took oath on Tuesday as Minister of State.
[Translation: Many stood with Mohammad Akhlaq, (who was lynched by a mob in Dadri for allegedly possessing beef) but not even two words were spoken by anyone on the Kairana issue.]
In light of these tweets, Patel’s appointment is being questioned.
She is a first time MP, an eloquent pro-Modi voice within and outside the Lok Sabha, whose OBC roots have positioned her as an important BJP ally in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.
The 35-year-old Lok Sabha member from Mirzapur in UP won on the ticket of Apna Dal, a party founded by her father, a popular Kurmi leader Sonelal Patel which later split, with the major faction siding with her mother, who expelled her from the party in 2015.
BJP support, Patel’s associates say, can help her claim the legacy of her father who built Apna Dal’s base among OBCs, primarily his fellow Kurmis.
BJP’s plans to project Anupriya as a prominent OBC face had become clear when national President Amit Shah attended the 67th birth anniversary of Sonelal Patel which was observed recently as ‘jan swabhiman rally” in Varanasi.
(With inputs from News18)
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