The BJP’s Mumbai unit president, Ashish Shelar, on Thursday attacked Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya for their ‘silence’ on the Shraddha Walkar murder case, said it was a case of “love jihad” and demanded that Walkar’s live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala be hanged to death.“Are you silent because Shraddha Walkar was a Hindu or because Aaftab is a Muslim? Are you silently backing Aaftab?” Shelar asked at a meeting held in Borivali on Thursday.
“Walkar seems to be a girl from our homes who goes out for work…We do not want another unfortunate Shraddha Walkar to happen…We do not want to politicise it but the question remains that the one who died was Shraddha and the one who killed her was Aaftab. Those who otherwise raise questions on humanitarian grounds are somehow silent on this case,” Shelar said.
This is a case of love jihad,” Shelar said, adding that appeasement was to blame for such cases, and demanded that Aaftab be hanged.“Our question is to Aaditya Thackeray – why didn’t you object to it? Why didn’t you protest? Even after the murder of a Hindu Marathi girl, Uddhav Thackeray fails to raise his protest only because he does not want to let go of his Muslim votes,” Shelar alleged, adding that if the victim had been a Muslim girl, everyone would have stood up against it. On Thursday, Aftab Poonawala, the alleged murderer of Shraddha Walker was sent to five days of police custody for interrogation. This comes after the lawyers protest outside the Saket court.