The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today founded itself in a very embarrassing situation after one of its leader shared a photograph on social media brandishing AK-47 rifle. The photo, which went viral, invited sharp criticism from several quarters demanding strict action against him.
The leader has been identified as Ashish Sareen, who had yesterday posted his picture with AK-47 on Facebook. The photo drew brickbats from netizens, forcing the saffron party to distance itself from him.
“He is not an active member of the party,” state BJP unit president Sat Sharma said.
“The law must take its own course,” he added,
Ashish, however, later deleted the photo from his account. In his defence, he said that the two-month old picture was taken at a house in Srinagar and that the rifle in question belonged to a personal security officer (PSO) of his colleague.
“The picture was uploaded by my brother and I apologise for it,” he said.
On his Facebook account, Ashish described himself as the vice-president of the BJP and the former state vice-president of the Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha. His profile picture shows him with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while in the cover picture he could be seen with Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
