A complaint was filed against Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kapil Mishra on Monday for his tweet allegedly targeting the Muslim community, ANI reported.

“If you want pollution to come down, then you should reduce these firecrackers and not the ones burst on Diwali,” Mishra said in a tweet, along with a photo of a man with a skull cap, women in burqa and several children standing next to them.

The tweet was taken down by Twitter for violating its guidelines.

Mahmood Ahmed, a resident of Joga Bai Extension in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar, filed the complaint under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and the Indian Penal Code. He alleged that Mishra’s tweet sought to “create enmity, hatred and communal violence”.

“It is demeaning, degrading and obscene, will corrupt minds and seriously affect religious sentiments. It may lead to illogical and dangerous consequences,” the complaint said.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal criticised Mishra, and said he compared “Muslim children to pollution” for his “petty politics”.

Mishra, a former Aam Aadmi Party MLA who was disqualified as member of the Delhi’s Legislative Assembly, maintained that he was trying to raise awareness on population control. “There is no mention of Hindu or Muslim in my tweet,” he said. “If the picture would have been of a Hindu family, would they have reacted in the same manner.”

“What will these people do when the population control law comes in place,” Mishra added.

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