New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may land in a soup for allegedly violating the model code of conduct (MCC) after a tweet by the party chief Arvind Kejriwal that depicted a man carrying a broom — the AAP party symbol — chasing away what appears to be a swastika.

The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has strongly objected to the post and has approached the Election Commission. But not only the BJP, the Delhi chief minister's tweet would have irked Hindus in totality.


The Nazi symbol on the left and the Swastika (with dots) on the right

The tweet, posted by Kejriwal on March 20 at 10.13 pm triggered a massive outrage on social media and #KejriwalHatesHindu continues to trend.

Twitterati slammed the AAP by terming the party to be anti-Hindu. This is not the first instance when an AAP member has hurt Hindu sentiments. Earlier, AAP candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Raghav Chadha, posted a photo with the words "door to door campaigning by the BJP". The photo depited a cow and calf standing at the doorstep of a house, much to the chagrin of the Hindus.

Attacking the AAP, leader of opposition in Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta, said Kejriwal has repeatedly been flouting the model code of conduct by playing with religious sentiments.

"He is indulging in a deliberate and malicious attempt to hurt religious sentiments. He is guilty of grossly violating the (model) code of conduct by posting a cartoon on March 20 depicting a man with broom (election symbol of the AAP) in hand chasing a swastik, which is held in great reverence by Hindus," Gupta said.

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In the complaint to the Election Commission, the BJP alleged of “misuse” of Twitter handles and social media platforms by Kejriwal and other AAP leaders with the “intention of scaring one community” and “provoking another community” just for the “sake of a few votes”.

Member of Parliament from Northeast Delhi, Manoj Tiwari, lashed out at the Delhi chief minister and said Kejriwal “berates Hindus and Hinduism when it suits him”.

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“This is the power of Hindutva. We Hindus live peacefully. We have never believed in Prachar or Prasaar. It hurts to see power-hungry Arvind Kejriwal berating Hindus and Hinduism when it suits his vote calculations,” Tiwari wrote on Twitter.

The AAP came out with a clarification later and tried to argue it was the Nazi symbol, not the swastika, which the Delhi chief minister had tweeted.