JNU student rights activist Shehla Rashid sparked off a storm on Twitter on Saturday after she tweeted that the RSS and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari were planning to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Her tweet drew flak from various corners with the minister warning her of legal action.
Rashid's tweet came after the Pune Police claimed to have busted a terror plot being hatched by Maoists to target Modi in a 'Rajiv Gandhi type incident'.
“Looks like RSS/Gadkari is planning to assassinate Modi, and then blame it upon Muslims/Communists and then lynch Muslims #RajivGandhiStyle,” she tweeted on Saturday.
Her comments came in the wake of several others, including opposition leaders, raising questions about the authenticity of the assassination 'plot' against Modi.
However, Gadkari was quick to react saying he would take legal action against “anti-social elements who have made bizarre comments”.
“I would be taking legal action on anti-social elements who have made bizzare comments; attributing personal motives to me, regarding the assassination threat to PM @narendramodi,” he wrote on Twitter.
An unfazed Rashid later on Saturday defended her comments saying that was merely a sarcastic tweet. “Leader of world's biggest party gets worked up about a sarcastic tweet,” she said.
On Friday, police claimed to have recovered a letter, dated April 18 2017 and addressed to one "Comrade Prakash", from the home of Delhi-based activist Rona Wilson. Rona Wilson and four others were arrested on Wednesday for links with the banned CPI-Maoist. The letter, the police claim, revealed a plot to assassinate Modi in a "Rajiv Gandhi-type incident" during one of his roadshows.
Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam on Friday demanded an inquiry into the letter's authenticity and claimed, “I am not saying this is completely untrue but it has been PM Modi's old tactic, since he was CM, whenever his popularity declines, news of an assassination plot is planted."
NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said that claims of existence of such a conspiracy appeared to be an attempt to divert attention from the main issues related to the Bhima-Koregaon violence in Pune district earlier this year.
Some news reports quoted retired police officials who were sceptical about the assassination claims. They said the Maoists typically used coded language, unlike the letter in question. A Maoist ideologue, Varavara Rao, also termed the letter fake and called it an attempt by the BJP to generate sympathy for Modi.