New Delhi: The home ministry on Tuesday said it has no information on any group called the ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’.
Replying to a written question in Lok Sabha, minister of state for home G. Kishan Reddy said the ministry has no information on whether the terminology ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’ is based on specific inputs provided by law enforcement agencies.
“No such information has been brought to the notice of the government by any law enforcement agency,” he said.
The reply came in response to questions by Congress members Vincent H. Pala and Jasbir Singh Gill.
The questions included whether an organisation called the ‘tukde tukde gang’ has been identified and catalogued by the Home Ministry or any central/state law enforcement agency, whether the terminology ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’ is based on specific inputs and whether the ministry or intelligence agency has drawn up a list of alleged leaders and members of the ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’.
In January this year, activist Saket Gokhale had filed a Right to Information (RTI) query seeking similar information. The response he received also confirmed that the home ministry did not have any information on the term.
The term ‘tukde tukde gang’ has often been used by BJP leaders, including Union home minister Amit Shah, to refer to its detractors and those who don’t subscribe to its ideology. It was first used in 2016, to describe Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students when BJP accused them of using ‘anti-national slogans’. However, an investigation into the matter said videos allegedly showing students chanting the slogans were doctored.
But BJP leaders have continued to use the term. Speaking at an event in Delhi, Shah said that it is time to “teach Delhi’s tukde-tukde gang a lesson”. Shah said, addressing the crowd at an event organised by the Delhi Development Authority.
About his RTI request, Gokhale said, “The home minister and the even the prime minister have used the term ‘tukde-tukde gang’ on several occasions. When they refer to such a gang, then it is safe to assume that as a standard operating procedure, the home ministry maintains a list of members of this gang.”