8 days after Kamlesh Tiwari’s murder, wife Kiran to take over as Hindu Samaj Party chief

Days after Hindu Samaj Party
leader Kamlesh Tiwari was murdered at his Lucknow office, his widow Kiran
Tiwari will take over as the party chief on Saturday. The Hindu outfit was
founded by Tiwari in 2017 after breaking off with Hindu Mahasabha.

40 year old Kiran Tiwari said she
was confident of taking over responsibility of the Hindu outfit, which she
claims has its presence in 18 states. She is expected to be formally declared
as the party president at a presser later in the day.

Kiran takes over on a day when the
Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by Yogi Adityanath government in
coordination with the UP police and Gujarat ATS arrested three more accused in
connection with Tiwari’s murder, taking the total number of arrests to 10.
Tiwari was found dead at his residence in Naka Hindola area of Lucknow on
October 18.

Kiran, who has completed her
studies till class 12, has said that she will soon convene a meeting of the
Hindu outfit’s national executive to decide how to take the movement forward.

“Now that he (Kamlesh) has left us
with this responsibility, I will discharge it fully. There is no question of back
seeing  Kiran said. The fledgling Hindu
outfit Kiran is set to take over was little known until Kamlesh’s killing.

Kamlesh, 45, a graduate, had
contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as an Independent candidate from Faizabad.
However, Kiran said any decision on contesting the 2022 UP polls would be taken
after consultation with other party leaders.

Apart from his controversial
remark on Prophet Muhammad, due to which he was booked under the National
Security Act (NSA) by the then Samajwadi Party government in 2015 and had
several fatwas issued against him by clerics, Kamlesh came under limelight
again in 2018 when he had announced his decision to organise a ‘karseva’
(voluntary service for cause) for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Coincidentally, a day before he
was killed, the Supreme Court concluded the hearing in the Ayodhya land title
case on October 17 and a decision in the case is now expected before November
17, when Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi demits office. In 2011, Kamlesh
had filed a civil petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad High
Court’s decision on Ayodhya issue.