“Mahendra Makrana is from @AamAadmiParty, Abhishek Som who placed a Rs 5Cr bounty on Bhansali’s head is from SP and Lokendra Kalvi, who threatened to cut Deepika Padukone’s nose, is from @INCIndia .. @BJP4India does not endorse violence…period.”
Four thousand people retweeted and applauded the statement of BJP spokesperson Sanju Verma listing the political affiliation of the people involved in making threats over the screening of the movie Padmavati. As the controversy over the release of the movie gains steam, BJP supporters are quick to wash their hands off the key players who have threatened violence and insist that they belong to other parties. Let us do a quick fact check of the four claims mentioned in the tweet to see if there is any truth behind them.
Claim: Lokendra Kalvi is from Congress
The man at the centre of the Padmavati uproar, Lokendra Singh Kalvi, is the founder president of Rajput Karni Sena. He is the person reported by ANI as saying “Jauhar ki jwala hai, bahut kuch jalega. Rok sako to rok lo.” (This is the fire of jauhar, a lot of things will burn. Stop us if you can.)
The BJP spokesperson would like us to believe that he is from Congress. Is he? Let us find out.
Kalvi is the son of Kalyan Singh Kalvi who was Cabinet minister in Chandra Shekhar’s four-month Union government in 1990-91. He fought the 1993 assembly polls from Nagaur as an independent but lost. In 1998 Lok Sabha polls, he was the BJP candidate from Barmer. He lost this time as well.
He joined Congress before 2008 Rajya Sabha elections but didn’t get a ticket and finally in 2014, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje inducted him into BJP in what was called a “masterstroke”.
He had left BJP for some time. He has rejoined the family. Whenever a family member rejoins the party, it’s a happy occasion.Rajasthan state BJP President
To sum up, Kalvi had fought election on a BJP ticket in 1998, joined Congress in 2008 and returned to the BJP family in 2014 and his current political inclinations are not documented. We are not sure on what basis BJP spokesperson is now claiming that Kalvi is from Congress.
Claim: Mahendra Makrana is from AAP
It was Mahipal Singh Makrana, president of Rajasthan unit of Rajput Karni Sena, who said that they would not hesitate to chop Deepika’s nose like Shurpanakha.
Makrana has one picture with Arvind Kejriwal, on the basis of which it seems the conclusion was made that he is from AAP.
Makrana has several pictures with other leaders, including Togadia. In the past he has supported Adityanath and even supported Hardik Patel last year. There is no evidence to suggest that he belongs to AAP.
On the Padmavati controversy, you can see him here sharing the stage with Diya Kumari, BJP Rajasthan MLA.
Regarding his picture with Arvind Kejriwal, he himself has described it as a meeting between AAP leaders and Thakur Bane Singh, father of Gajendra Singh, who died in an AAP rally. Makrana accompanied the father of Gajendra Singh to this meeting. His Facebook post can be seen below.
Further, in a comment, he had stated that his purpose in going to Delhi was not to meet Arvind Kejriwal but to raise the issue that the promises made after Gajendra Singh’s death were not fulfilled. In this comment, he further stated that after Karni Sena’s warning, the Delhi Government promised to execute the pending issues within a month.
Claim: Abhishek Som is from SP
As seen from his Facebook posts and pictures, Abhishek Som seems to be a Samajwadi Party supporter. He announced a Rs 5 crore bounty on Bhansali’s and Deepika Padukone’s head.
Claim: BJP Does Not Endorse Violence
Making no further comments on this claim, we list here the statements of BJP leaders on the Padmavati controversy:
Telangana BJP MLA Raja Singh threatened to set theatres on fire if they screen Padmavati.
Want to congratulate Meerut youth for announcing Rs 5 crore bounty for beheading Deepika, Bhansali. We will reward the ones beheading them, with Rs 10 crore, and also take care of their family’s needs.Suraj Pal Amu, Haryana’s BJP Chief Media Coordinator
The theory that those who threatened the cast of Padmavati film were members of AAP/SP/Congress was repeated by many BJP supporters on social media.
Out of all the claims that Mahipal Makrana is from AAP, Abhishek Som is from SP, Lokendra Kalvi is from congress and that BJP doesn’t endorse violence, the only one which has some basis is that Abhishek Som is an SP sympthiser. None of the others are based in fact. Yet, this rumour has made many rounds of social media.
(This article was first published on Alt News and has been republished with their permission)
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