Shahi Imam's vote for AAP diktat: BJP slams party for communal politics after Bukhari's fatwa

New Delhi: Attacking AAP for seeking a ‘fatwa’ in its favour and then rejecting it, BJP on Friday accused the party of doing communal politics and said it stood exposed for attempting to polarize votes ahead of Delhi elections. BJP said the ‘fatwa’ by Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari appealing Muslims to vote for AAP earlier in the day was an insult to the majority and asked all those opposed to it, to come out and vote against those who sought the religious pronouncement. “Aam Aadmi Party stands exposed for doing communal politics. They are completely rattled and that is why they are attempting to polarise votes on communal lines,” Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. [caption id=“attachment_2084293” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. PTI[/caption] She accused AAP of being habitual to such politics, saying that “they first ask for some (support) and then reject it saying they did not ask for it”. Asked about the ‘fatwa’, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “Such fatwas have been issued earlier too. Such a fatwa was also issued in Gujarat in the past. Those who are against such fatwas should come out to vote 100 percent.” BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said, “This is an insult to the majority population who believe in the unity and integrity of the country and support the politics of good governance and development. They will reject such politics.” Party spokesperson M J Akbar said, “AAP has shrunk to extraordinary depths. It is using both alcohol and fatwa. But they don’t realise that the Delhi and Indian voter is not communal. Any appeal on communal lines becomes counter-productive.” Sitharaman said AAP is resorting to all kinds of measures to win Delhi polls and form its government, but Delhi people can see through their motives and not accept their politics. In her attack, she cited examples of AAP taking Congress support to form the last government in Delhi, accepting funds from ‘dubious’ companies without verifying its antecedents and now, for first asking for a ‘fatwa’ in their favour to polarise votes and then rejecting the same. The Minister said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had asked for a fatwa earlier and she had got it, the same away AAP has also asked for it from Bukhari. To a question on AAP alleging links to the BJP press conference soon after the issue of ‘fatwa’, Sitharaman said it is a “very interesting distortion” that the party is resorting to, saying the beneficiary of the ‘fatwa’ is Aam Aadmi Party. “This is a very interesting distortion by them, they have always indulged in distortion,” she said. Sharma said the NDA government believes in development of all and the AAP is trying to divide the society on communal lines, which people of Delhi and the country will reject. “Such kind of politics and polarisation on communal lines will hurt India’s image internationally,” he said. BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said AAP was trying to divide Delhi on communal lines. Citing “grave threat” to the community from communal forces, Bukhari today appealed to Muslims to vote for AAP but the party rejected the support saying it was against any type of caste and communal politics. PTI