New Delhi: The home ministry has said it had no information on any “tukde-tukde gang” – a pejorative term used often by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as union home minister Amit Shah – in reply to an RTI query.
Activist Saket Gokhale said he received the one line response to his query on Monday, nearly a month after he had filed the RTI application with the ministry.
The application had reportedly dumbfounded officials in the home ministry, who had earlier told a TV channel that the term ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’, or a group of people trying to divide India, was not mentioned in any report by intelligence and law enforcing agencies.
Talking to News18, Gokahle said that he will now approach the Election Commission to take action against the home minister, for he had recently said that members of the “tukde tukde gang” should be punished while addressing a rally ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections. Shah had blamed the Congress and the “tukde-tukde gang” for the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
“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,” Gokhale said.
Adding that he will also write a letter to the Home Minister, Gokhale said, “This is not just a rhetoric anymore. Saying that some people are trying to break the country is a huge allegation and you cannot just make such statements when your own ministry is saying that it has no information on the tukde tukde gang. The Home Minister either needs to clarify or apologise for his statement.”
The RTI had sought to know whether the Ministry of Home Affairs had drawn up a list of leaders and members of the “tukde tukde gang” and whether they are planning any punishment against these members, as declared by the home minister.
The term ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’ was coined after the infamous February 26 incident at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University where some students allegedly raised anti-India slogans. The Delhi Police is yet to establish these charges against the students. Since then, various leaders of the BJP have been using the term against the opposition and various student leaders.
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Source: News18