New Delhi: Pradeep Hooda, the state president of the Lok Dal, lodged a police complaint against Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar after a video surfaced of him holding an axe and threatening a party worker saying that he would “cut his neck off”. Hooda has demanded that the Haryana chief minister be immediately booked and arrested for threatening a man’s life.
Hooda, who posted a video of his visit to the city police station in Karnal on Facebook, also marked copies of his complaint to the station house officer to the governor of the state, the chief election commissioner and the director-general of police.
The Lok Dal leader, who sat on a protest outside the police station after officials refused to register a first information report on the basis of his complaint, said he also provided the police with a copy of the video of the incident.
He stated that Khattar openly threatened a party worker that he would cut off his head. “If Manohar Lal Khattar had been an ordinary person, we would not have taken the issue seriously. But we have since he is heading the government as the chief minister .. and is in-charge of the state’s law and order,” Hooda said in his complaint.
Also read: Brandishing an Axe, Haryana CM Khattar Threatens to Lop off Party Worker’s Head
He added that since the election atmosphere has begun and Khattar remains surrounded by his party workers, there was a possibility that his violent posturing may influence his party workers and incite them to attack political opponents.
Further, he said that such violence can also influence ordinary citizens who may not subscribe to the BJP’s ideology.
He, therefore, demanded that Khattar be arrested and sent behind bars till the time elections end so that the law and order in the state do not deteriorate further.
The video in question, shot during the Jan Ashirvaad Yatra which the BJP organised across the state, had created quite a stir.
It shows Khattar standing on top of a vehicle and accepting gifts. As one person hands him a long axe-like weapon, another standing behind him and wearing a yellow kurta along with a party hash, tries to put a silver crown on his head.
At this, Khattar angrily turns around and tells the party worker in Hindi: “Gardan kaat doonga teri (I will cut your neck off)”. At this, the man is seen apologising to Khattar with folded hands.
The video provided cannon fodder to the opposition. Haryana Congress, while sharing the video, tweeted: “Anger and ego are harmful to health. Why does Khattar ‘saheb’ get angry? Taking an axe, he warns the leader of cutting his neck.”
Another senior party leader and spokesperson, Randeep Singh Surjewala, asked: “If this is what he says to his leader, wonder what will he do with the public?”
Khattar had defended himself saying that the man in question had not made any formal complaint. “He’s an old party worker and he didn’t feel bad,” he said.
The opposition, however, does not believes it to be an acceptable argument to excuse such a violent threat.