The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, 7 July, removed Arun Yadav, its Haryana IT cell incharge, from his post, amid calls for his arrest over controversial tweets pertaining to Muslims and Islam.
A statement issued by state BJP president OP Dhankar said Yadav is being removed from the post with immediate effect but did not give any reason for it.
Yadav's tweets, between May and going as far back as 2017, have gone viral on social media now. While no complaint has been filed against him so far, people are demanding his arrest online.
#ArrestArunYadav has been trending on Twitter since Thursday, with 184k tweets as of Friday noon.
'If Zubair Can be Arrested, Why Not Yadav': Social Media React
Social media users accused Arun Yadav of hurting religious sentiments of a community and argued that he too should be arrested if Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair could be arrested over a 2018 tweet.
Many also drew parallels between his removal from his post to former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's suspension.
"If Zubair can be arrested for his 2018 tweet, then why not Arun yadav?" wrote Shaikh Sadeque, president of the Tipu Sultan Party.
"The BJP has sacked yet another 'fringe element'. But instead of this eyewash, will these 'hate minions' be arrested?" Youth Congress chief Srinivas BV wrote on Twitter in Hindi.
History of Sharing False Information As Well
Yadav joined Twitter in August 2015 and has over 601k followers.
He has on multiple occasions shared false and misleading posts on the micro-blogging platform.
In February 2022, a video of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan blowing air into the wind after offering a 'dua' (prayer) had gone viral with a claim that the actor spat on veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar's mortal remains while attending her funeral. Among those sharing the false and misleading claims was Yadav.
In November 2021, a 10-second clipped, viral video of Congress leader Rashid Alvi was shared by several social media users, including Yadav, in which Alvi could be heard saying that those who chant 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans are not seers, but demons.
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