NEW DELHI: AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday came under attack from the BJP and Congress for meeting controversial Muslim cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan in Bareilly recently and was accused of playing the ‘communal card’.
While the Congress dubbed AAP as the “B team of BJP”, the BJP lashed out at Kejriwal saying the meeting has exposed him.
The AAP chief on Tuesday sought to downplay the meeting saying he had gone to Bareilly on a religious tour and met the Muslim leader because “he is a respectable person in the town”.
“I had gone to the dargah to pray for a corruption free India and met Mualana Raza Saheb as he is a very respected man there. I met him and appealed him that everyone should come together to save the country as it is going through a sensitive phase,” Kejriwal said.
On the accusation of playing ‘the communal card’, Kejriwal said he has been visiting temples, mosques and meeting many people.
He clarified that he was not aware of the charges against the Maulana of issuing a fatwa against Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen. He said that he spoke to the Muslim cleric on Tuesday again and he told him that all that is being said about him is wrong.
“I spoke to him and he told me that he can never issue a fatwa as fatwa is issued by Mufti. He told me that the head of a board of hundred people, of which he too was a member years ago, had issued the fatwa. He also told me that just because he is more known, his name came into the picture,” Kejriwal said. (PTI)
