Shiv Sena sparks off Yakub Memon-related row on Gopalkrishna Gandhi

New Delhi: The Shiv Sena today sought to drag Opposition candidate for Vice-President's post Gopalkrishna Gandhi into a row involving Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon. "Do you want Gopalkrishna Gandhi as VP? - who opposed hanging of 1993 Mumbai Blast plotter Yakub Memon," Shiv Sena spokesman and MP Sanjay Raut said in a tweet. Terrorist Yakub Abdul Razak Memon was convicted for his involvement in the 1993 Bombay bombings of Special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities court on July 27, 2007. Yakub, also the brother of one of the prime suspects in the bombings Tiger Memon, was executed by hanging on July 30, 2015 at Nagpur jail.

In 2015, just a few hours before Yakub's hanging, Gopalkrishna Gandhi had written to President Pranab Mukherjee saying putting off Yakub Memon’s execution would be a “fitting tribute to the humane legacy” of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who had opposed the death penalty. In his speech at the all-party meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday maintained that in the run-up to the Presidential elections - in between Ram Nath Kovind and Ms Meira Kumar - a “high level of dignity” has been maintained by both sides and no “ill will or bad language” has been used. (UNI)