india

Updated: Oct 26, 2019 20:33 IST

Hindu Samaj Party leader Kamlesh Tiwari’s wife Kiran took over as the outfit’s chief on Saturday, eight days after he was murdered inside his office in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow.

The Hindu outfit was founded by Tiwari in 2017 after breaking off with Hindu Mahasabha.

Kiran Tiwari, 40, said she was confident of discharging the responsibility of the Hindu outfit, which she claimed had its presence in 18 states.

Kiran took over on a day when the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Yogi Adityanath government in coordination with Uttar Pradesh police and Gujarat anti-terrorist squad arrested three more people in connection with Kamlesh 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 dropped out of school after Class 12, has said 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 backtracking),” she said.

The fledgeling Hindu outfit 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 about contesting the state polls in 2022 would be taken after consultation with other party leaders.

Kamlesh was booked under the National Security Act (NSA) by the then Samajwadi Party government in 2015 after he made a controversial remark on Prophet Muhammad. Clerics had issued several ‘fatwas’ against him after his statement.

Kamlesh had hogged the limelight again in 2018 when he had announced his decision to organise a ‘karseva’ (voluntary service for cause) for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

In 2011, Kamlesh had filed a civil petition in the Supreme Court challenging Allahabad high court’s decision on the Ayodhya issue.

The Supreme Court had concluded the hearing in the Ayodhya land title case on October 17, a day before he was killed, and a decision in the case is now expected before November 17, when Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi demits office.