MEERUT: Senior BJP leaders had to bear the brunt of villagers' wrath for their "casual attitude" during the cremation of Pulwama martyr Ajay Kumar at village Basa Tikri.Villagers not only shouted at them for laughing and cracking jokes at the venue but also forced them to take off their shoes.A day after the incident, a video has gone viral wherein a villager is abusing Union minister of state for HRD and MP from Baghpat Satyapal Singh. The latter is seen cracking jokes with Vineet Sharda, a BJP leader, who had recently announced a reward of Rs 51 lakh to "anyone who brings Pak based terrorist Masood Azhar’s head."Other leaders who faced villagers wrath and were compelled to take off their shoes include Rajinder Agarwal, BJP MP from Meerut-Hapur Lok Sabha Constituency, UP Health minister Sidharth Nath Singh, among others.Virender Singh, a local, said, "The entire village was grieving the loss of a soldier and a certain level of decency is expected from public representatives. There were several incidents even during the procession when a reflection of casual attitude was exhibited by these leaders. Anger was justified."Reacting to the fiasco, MP Rajinder Singh said, "The issue is unnecessarily being hyped and could be the result of some specific elements with an aim to show BJP leaders in negative light. MP Satyapal Singh was specifically targeted because it was his constituency. We were sitting on the ground wearing shoes. I don’t think it was such a big issue but still when asked we removed the shoes. There was no anger among the villagers as is being portrayed."While Satyapal Singh could not be accessed, Vineet Sharda, put the entire blame on the opposition. "There were leaders of other political parties also present on the venue who are doing politics over such a sensitive issue which is completely uncalled for."

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