Two complaints filed against Rahul Gandhi for ‘Masood Azhar ji’ remark; Randeep Singh Surjewala says comment was sarcastic

Muzaffarpur: Two complaints have been filed against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for referring banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as ‘Masood Azhar ji’. The first complaint was lodged by Ahiyapur resident Tamanna Hashmi in the Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Bihar. The next hearing in the matter is scheduled for 16 March. [caption id=“attachment_5224771” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] Another complaint has been filed by advocate Arvind Kumar at Kaiserbagh Police Station in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow. Speaking to ANI, Arvind said, “On one hand, Rahul Gandhi uses derogatory language against the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister while on the other, he addresses Masood Azhar as ‘Masood Azhar ji’.” “I am very offended by this. Hence, I have filed a complaint at Kaiserbagh Police Station against Rahul Gandhi,” he said. This came after Rahul on Monday sparked political controversy by referring to Masood Azhar as ‘Masood Azhar ji’ at a rally. “In Pulwama, there was a bomb explosion. 40-45 of our CRPF personnel were martyred. Who carried out the bomb attack in the (CRPF) bus? Jaish-e-Mohammad,” he said, while addressing a party function in New Delhi on Monday. “You might remember Masood Azhar. During the previous government of the 56-inch people, today’s NSA Ajit Doval went in an aircraft with Masood Azhar ji and handed him over,” Rahul said. Rahul was referring to the release of Azhar in exchange of hostages of hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in 1999. Indian Airlines plane was hijacked during its flight from Kathmandu to Delhi and was taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan. BJP slammed Rahul for the comment and accused him of loving terrorists. However, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said a twist was being given to a comment meant to be sarcastic.