Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Vijay Goel spar over bania community on Twitter

Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister and Union Minister Vijay Goel on Twitter get involved in an argument over the most controversial decision of Modi-led government demonetisation, GST and small businessman community (bania) in Delhi.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAM) alleged that Narendra Modi led government has systematically removed names of anti-BJP voters from the voter list.  The removed names were mostly belonging to businessman community, who did not vote to BJP in earlier elections.

दिल्ली के बनिए इस बात से नाराज़ हैं कि @ArvindKejriwal और उनकी पार्टी बनियों को बेवक़ूफ़ समझती है | क्या वैश्य समाज इस बात पर विश्वास करेगा कि भाजपा ढूंढ-ढूंढ कर उनका वोट काटेगी? जबकी सच तो यह है कि दिल्ली से दो वैश्य नेता केंद्र सरकार में मंत्री हैं |

— Vijay Goel (@VijayGoelBJP) December 8, 2018

The Delhi CM and Union Minister locked horns after Goel posted a tweet saying that People of Delhi are angry with Arvind Kejriwal and his party think Baniya community is foolish. Will the community ever believe that BJP is especially deleting Baniya votes? But the reality is that two leaders from the community are Union minister, Goel tweeted, referring to himself and his colleague Harsh Vardhan, who is also a BJP MP from Delhi.

भाजपा ने दिल्ली के कुल 8 लाख बनिए वोटरो में से 4 लाख के नाम क्यों कटवाए, जवाब दीजिए .@VijayGoelBJP

भाजपा की नोटबंदी GST जैसी ग़लत नीतियों की वजह से व्यापारियों के धंधे चौपट हो गए। इसलिए बनिए इस बार भाजपा को वोट नहीं दे रहे। तो क्या इसका मतलब आप उनके वोट कटवा दोगे? ऐसे जीतोगे? https://t.co/DT32jsINFS

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 8, 2018

Responding to Goel, Kejriwal tweeted, “BJP should answer as to why they have deleted the names of four lakh voters out of the total eight lakh Baniya voters. Wrong implementation of GST has ruined the business of traders. That is why they are not going to vote for you. But, now you are deleting names from the voter list. Is this how you plan to win? (sic).”

Hitting back at Delhi CM, Goel said that Kejriwal was indulging in politics with regard to the Baniya voters in Delhi. “Such politics of caste is not good. I think I have touched a raw nerve. Baniya hates liars.”

It is to be noted that Kejriwal’s party AAP has been at loggerheads with the EC for the last two months over the alleged removal of names of voters from the communities — Muslims and Poorvanchali — that did not vote for the BJP in the past. Recently, the AAP has included the ‘Baniyas’ to this list in its attacks on the BJP.

Soon afterwards, many other AAP leaders — including Sanjay Singh and Dilip Pandey — took on Mr Goel. Mr Singh claimed that the numbers were not in the BJP’s favour, at least when compared to his party. “Sirji, 2 prominent ministers out of 7 from AAP Cabinet are banias, the speaker of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha is a bania. BJP’s 80% donation comes from banias but only two out of 73 ministers in the Modi govt are banias. Is this a joke?” he tweeted.

Pandey, for his part, alleged that the BJP hadn’t spared a single ticket for Banias out of Madhya Pradesh’s 230 assembly seats in the just-concluded polls despite 80% of its funding coming from the community. “This makes it clear how anti-Bania the BJP is,” he claimed.

Also read: Delhi: CM Arvind Kejriwal under fire over reported Dubai trip amid pollution crisis