New Delhi: Naveen Kumar Jindal, who was the Delhi media head of BJP and suspended for his insulting remarks over Prophet Muhammed, called himself a "proud Hindu" on Monday and greeted his supporters with "Jai Shri Ram' on Twitter, PTI reported.
Jindal claimed that what is important for him at present is protecting himself and his family as there were continuous death threats at him from India and abroad.
He told PTI, "I have submitted a complaint to the police demanding my security cover back. I have faith in Banke Bihari, and he will help me pass through these difficult times."
After his removal from the party, he refreshed his Twitter profile removing his previous designation and adding "Proud Hindu" and "Nationalist".
A communication to Jindal from BJP stated that his views on social media disturbed communal harmony and violated BJP's fundamental beliefs, and his act was against the party's policies and ideology.
The communication from Delhi BJP head Adesh Gupta read, "Your primary membership is immediately terminated, and you are expelled from the party."
A controversial June 1 tweet- insulting Prophet Muhammed- by him gathered flak, and he reacted to them that he was questioning those who insulted Hindu deities. He claimed that he never intended to hurt anyone's religious feelings.
A senior BJP leader said, "Jindal was focused, yet his style did not attract many friends and close allies in Delhi BJP. He was also involved in a public verbal duel with a party colleague recently." Other party leaders claimed that he got sidelined because of differences with Delhi leadership, and he became infrequent in visiting the party office.
Jindal, a journalist, is a familiar face among those attracting flak for controversial; social media posts. There is a case on him in Punjab for alleged sharing of a doctored video of AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Twitter. Also, Maharashtra and Rajasthan police have been monitoring him for his tweets.
He had joined the party after a 20-year long journalistic career and contested the 2003 Assembly polls in Delhi. He used to appear in news channel debates regularly and put forth the party's views as a spokesperson of Delhi BJP and was finally elevated as its media cell head.
His book titled 'Islamic Madrase Benaqab' was released by then RSS chief KS Sudarshan in 2008. As a journalist, he had also done some interviews, including those of Ghazi Baba and Afzal Guru.