Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena has offered a Lok Sabha ticket from Agra to Shambhulal Regar, who has been in jail since December for hacking a Muslim labourer to death in Rajasthan's Rajsamand and then burning his body.
Navnirman Sena national president Amit Jani announced the names of five contestants who would be contesting in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019, which includes Shambhulal Regar's name for a seat reserved for Scheduled Castes.
Mr Jani claimed that Regar's life is in danger in Jodhpur jail.
"We will save Regar and will also give political assurance to him. According to Regar, he did this in self-defence and it's up to the court whether he is a killer or not," he said.
Mr Jani further praised Regar's effort to "save Hindutva". He said, "Regar has the constitutional right to contest election till his conviction. We want only Hindutva faces to contest elections on our party's tickets and there can be nobody better than him."
Regar was arrested after the gut-wrenching video of him killing a man with a pickaxe and burning his body went viral in December. His victim, Mohammad Afrazul, was a 45-year-old daily wager from Bengal. In the video, Regar ranted against "love jihad", the term used by right-wing groups accusing Muslim men of marrying Hindu women and converting them.
The police learnt that Regar, a father of three, was an introvert, but was obsessed with hate videos on his phone and was part of rabid groups.
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