Tewari complains to ECI against video clip maligning his late father

ROPAR, May 2, 2019: Senior Congress leader and party candidate from Shri Anandpur Sahab parliamentary constituency, Manish Tewari has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India and Punjab police, seeking action against miscreants for spreading false and malicious propaganda against him and his family on social media. The video alleges that his father late Prof VN Tewari was involved in anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and that petrol was supplied from his petrol pump to burn Sikhs, while his father was killed 6 months before the riots and never owned any petrol pump. He said, he suspected his political opponents of circulation this video clip. Tewari said, his father was assassinated by militants on April 3, 1984, six months before the riots and he or his family never ever owned a petrol pump anywhere in the country. “Those who failed in trying to raise the outside bogey against me have now stopped too low to malign me and my family with outrageous lies”, he alleged. Tewari described the propaganda against him as Agutter and despicable and said his family never owned any petrol pump. “This is gutter & despicable level my opponents are stooping to in Sri Anandpur (Sahib). My father Late Dr VN Tewari MP-Prof of Punjabi was assassinated on 3rd April 1984 at our home in Chandigarh 06 months before reprehensible killings in Nov 1984,” Tewari tweeted on Thursday. “My mother was a Jat Sikh. My father was an academician at Punjab University Chandigarh & my mother retired as Dean of PGI Chandigarh. Our family has never owned a Petrol Pump ever in our lives anywhere in India .We have complained to R.O/SSP Ropar,CEC & Whatsapp. They need to act ASAP against miscreants,” Tewari wrote on the microblogging site Twitter. The video alleged that the fuel pump, from where petrol was allegedly distributed free of charge for the setting Sikhs on fire during 1984 anti-Sikh riots, belonged to late V N Tewari, father of Manish Tewari, while he (late VN Tewari) was assassinated 6 months before the riots and the family has never ever owned a petrol pump anywhere in the country. Meanwhile, Pawan Dewan, the Election Agent of Tewari, in the complaint to the Election Commission said, “we suspect it is at the behest of major opposition political parties contesting the Parliamentary election from Anandpur Sahib Constituency to malign Shri Manish Tewari, the congress candidate from Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency. The clip not only makes false allegations, but attempts to incite violence and disturb the communal harmony amongst the different communities in Punjab and is potentially dangerous”. “This speech propagates a false narrative qua one of Punjab’s greatest martyrs Prof V.N.Tewari, who was martyred while promoting peace and harmony during the difficult times faced by the State. Prof.V.N.Tewari was an academician in Punjab University and also held the distinction of being a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, when he was martyred for propagating the cause of a peaceful and prosperous Punjab”, it said, while adding, “Prof. V.N Tewari was martyred in April 1984 much prior to operation Blue Star and assassination of Smt.Indra Gandhi. The clip is absolutely false and baseless. The circulation of the clip must be investigated thoroughly to unmask the propagators of the same and the perpetrators along with all accomplices including but not limited to individuals or groups who have uploaded the same on social media and other platforms must be brought to the book immediately in accordance with law”.