BJP workers thrash Muzaffarnagar youth, call him 'terrorist' for criticising govt over job claims

In yet another incident of hate crime in Uttar Pradesh, a local youth was thrashed by a group of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers during a shoot of a television news channel’s talk show on Wednesday for allegedly using “foul” language against the government. The video of the incident that has gone viral on social media, shows a mob in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar thrashing the youth and calling him a “terrorist”. According to News18, the youth who has been identified as Adnan was in Muzaffarnagar to write his board exams.

#WATCH – Group of BJP workers thrash a student during the shoot of a TV channel's talkshow for speaking against the government. The incident took place in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar. @AkhileshPSingh of @INCIndia and @AnilaSingh2 of @BJP4India react. pic.twitter.com/olbSnqKbgw

— News18 (@CNNnews18) March 7, 2019

The incident took place when a television debate organised by a private news channel was going on. Journalist Narendra Pratap was anchoring an election talk show for the Hindi news channel Bharat Samachar, The Quint reported. During the debate, Adnan tried making a point that jobs have not been created in a manner in which the government has been claiming. This triggered an argument with the BJP supporters and later on, the youth was beaten mercilessly. Adnan alleged that the party workers called him a “terrorist” for criticising the BJP over claims of job and development.

“I was passing by. I saw there was a show going on so I participated. I said there was no work happening. They started saying things like I am a terrorist. Then they started beating me up. They were BJP people. The police hasn’t taken any action yet. I want them to be punished. I spoke against the BJP. That is why they beat me,” Adnan said. However, the party workers counter Adnan’s statement, claiming that the youth used “foul” language against senior BJP leaders and the party while making his argument. When contacted, the Additional Superintendent of City (Muzaffarnagar) Satpal was quoted by The Indian Express as saying: “We have not received any complaint from the youth. There are many unverified videos that are circulated on the internet. If more things come to light, action will be taken.”