BJP Appoints Controversial Leader Kapil Mishra As Vice-President Of Delhi Unit

The decision comes despite his past involvement in the 2020 Delhi riots and criticism for communal statements.

Updated on: 5 August 2023 9:10 am

BJP leader Kapil Mishra

In a surprising move, the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed controversial leader Kapil Mishra as one of its vice-presidents. Mr. Mishra, notorious for his incendiary and communal tweets, has been at the center of several controversies in the past.

In 2020, during the northeast Delhi riots, Kapil Mishra faced severe criticism for issuing an "ultimatum" to the Delhi police to clear the roads in Jaffrabad and Chand Bagh. He made a bold statement, stating that if the roads were not cleared within three days, he would take matters into his own hands. This speech came amidst violent clashes between protesters against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and a group supporting the law in northeast Delhi, resulting in significant loss of lives and injuries.

Following the riots, a group of lawyers filed a police complaint against Mr. Mishra, citing his "inciteful tweets" during the communal tensions. The Election Commission had also intervened and asked Twitter to remove a communal tweet by Kapil Mishra, which criticized the protests against the citizenship law in Delhi and made controversial references to "mini-Pakistans" in the city.

Despite these controversies, Mr. Mishra's rise within the Delhi BJP seems to be a calculated move by the party's leadership. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva confirmed that Kapil Mishra's name had been on the list of new office bearers, but its declaration was delayed due to unknown reasons, according to NDTV.

Kapil Mishra's background includes being a former minister in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. However, his differences with party chief Arvind Kejriwal led him to join the BJP in August 2019. Since joining the party, he has been known for his provocative speeches promoting Hindutva ideology.

In addition to his controversial statements, Mr. Mishra had recently praised the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for omitting certain chapters on the Mughal Empire from class 12 history textbooks. He alleged that these chapters referred to the Mughal rulers as "thieves" and hailed the move as an initiative to shed light on the "truth."

Kapil Mishra's political journey has been marked by both highs and lows. In the 2020 Delhi Assembly election, he contested on a BJP ticket from the Model Town constituency but lost to the AAP's Akhilesh Pati Tripathi.