Professor Virender Singh is advisor to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress.
New Delhi:
In Haryana, rocked by riots since last week over the issue of Jat reservation, a controversy has broken out over the Congress's role in stoking the violence.
Specifically, a recording that surfaced of a conversation where an aide to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, appears to be egging on a Jat community leader to escalate the violence.
Professor Virender Singh, the Hooda aide heard in the recording, spoke to NDTV and admitted it's his voice in the sting, but said the context has been distorted.
In the recording, Mr Singh can be heard asking a Captain Mann, a leader from the Dalal Khap, a caste council, to ramp up the agitation. "(The agitation) is going well in our area," Mr Singh is heard saying. "Tell the boys of INSO (student organisation of the Indian National Lok Dal) and INLD men that you do drama of support (for the Jats) but you have not blocked even an ant in the villages of Sirsa... Get it done in Sirsa," he is heard saying. The captain replies that he will get it done.
Mr Singh said that the use of ant was a metaphor, and that he actually asking for peace.
He has now been charged with sedition by the Haryana police. The tape has yet to be forensically examined.
The Congress served Mr Singh a show cause notice on Tuesday.
When asked if his ex-boss, former Chief Minister Hooda had a role in the conversation, he said, "he (Hooda) had no idea of it." He said the leak of the clip suggests that the Haryana government is tapping phones of political rivals.
Watch more on Truth vs Hype: Politics, Caste, Violence - Haryana 's Deadly Cocktail
Saturday 9:30pm, Sunday 7:30pm NDTV 24x7
Specifically, a recording that surfaced of a conversation where an aide to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, appears to be egging on a Jat community leader to escalate the violence.
Professor Virender Singh, the Hooda aide heard in the recording, spoke to NDTV and admitted it's his voice in the sting, but said the context has been distorted.
In the recording, Mr Singh can be heard asking a Captain Mann, a leader from the Dalal Khap, a caste council, to ramp up the agitation. "(The agitation) is going well in our area," Mr Singh is heard saying. "Tell the boys of INSO (student organisation of the Indian National Lok Dal) and INLD men that you do drama of support (for the Jats) but you have not blocked even an ant in the villages of Sirsa... Get it done in Sirsa," he is heard saying. The captain replies that he will get it done.
Mr Singh said that the use of ant was a metaphor, and that he actually asking for peace.
He has now been charged with sedition by the Haryana police. The tape has yet to be forensically examined.
The Congress served Mr Singh a show cause notice on Tuesday.
When asked if his ex-boss, former Chief Minister Hooda had a role in the conversation, he said, "he (Hooda) had no idea of it." He said the leak of the clip suggests that the Haryana government is tapping phones of political rivals.
Watch more on Truth vs Hype: Politics, Caste, Violence - Haryana 's Deadly Cocktail
Saturday 9:30pm, Sunday 7:30pm NDTV 24x7
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