New Delhi: Delhi Police chief B S Bassi on Saturday found himself in a spot as he hit out at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and a senior journalist, based on a tweet put out by a 'parody account', inviting ridicule from netizens.
Irked by the tweet that ridiculed him, Bassi termed Kejriwal and journalist Ravish Kumar as "self-styled appraisers" overlooking the fact that the latter had left social media last year itself due to the menace of online abuse.
When contacted, Kumar said he was not perturbed but surely "surprised" that the person behind the parody handle managed to bluff the top cop.
"He (Bassi) should have been careful. But it's fine, I had a good laugh over it. We journalists are anyway receiving flak left right and centre. When I was active on Twitter I had repeatedly warned people about this impersonation," he said.
Bassi's bluster came in response to a tweet that questioned his "commitment" towards the khaki and wondered whether his loyalty was for the uniform or "knickers", a veiled reference to RSS.
"When Bassi says that his commitment is towards the khaki, then it's not clear whether he is referring to the uniform or knicker," the tweet in Hindi read which was retweeted by Kejriwal.
The Commissioner responded, "@ArvindKejriwal & @ravishndtv Committed to CONSTITUTION, NATION & TRUTH. SelfStyled Appraisers may better introspect."
@ArvindKejriwal & @ravishndtv Committed to CONSTITUTION, NATION & TRUTH. SelfStyled Appraisers may better introspect https://t.co/PbjUbC4iDW
— BS Bassi (@BhimBassi) February 20, 2016
Sources in the Delhi Police team that handles social media admitted that they later found out that the tweet was indeed from a parody account although they refused to elaborate further.
Last Sunday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had sparked a row saying that the event organised at JNU to protest against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru had the backing of Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed.
Even though the Home Ministry clarified that Singh's statement was based on inputs from different agencies, it was reportedly made in the wake of the posts on the fake Saeed Twitter account.
Response of Bassi, who is set to retire on February 29, invited ridicule from the twitterati with veteran journalist Shekhar Gupta tweeting "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence....waiting for 3rd now for final confirmation of professional brilliance."
"Bassi only responds to Fake Accounts & springs into action on Fake Tweets, Bassi Jaisi Koi Nahi" and "Fake Hafiz Syed tweet, fake video of #JNU and now fake Ravish NDTV tweet, Bassi ji Bass karo" were some of the other tweets.
The Police Commissioner has been facing intense flak for Delhi Police's alleged mishandling of the JNU row.
The last tweet from Kumar's verified account was on August 22 last year. He had stopped tweeting over the "silence" of liberals against online abuse.
Bassi tagging Kejriwal in his response assumes importance in the light of the persistent animosity between the two and the Chief Minister's recent statements slamming police for "flouting" Supreme Court orders leading to violence inside court premises.
