Aatish Taseer, the son of journalist Tavleen Singh, and himself a columnist, has been called out for his tweet mocking Union Home Minister Amit Shah who tested positive for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19 on Sunday.
Taking to Twitter, Taseer tweeted, "Every now and then @TheTweetOfGod stretches the limits of our our moral universe. Just as our love of a free press requires us to defend the @DailyMailUK, so now too we are called upon to wish this fat bastard (who has done nothing but evil in his life) a speedy recovery. (sic)."
A number of people slammed Taseer, who is the son of Tavleen Singh and Pakistani diplomat Salman Taseer.
According to a report in ThePrint 2019, Taseer has been in the govt’s crosshairs since he wrote an article for Time magazine titled ‘Divider-in-Chief’ and criticised his first term as PM.
Sources told ThePrint that that Taseer has been served a notice and both parties are discussing the issue.
Taseer in September 2019 had penned an emotional piece in Time magazine where he stated how he had always been Indian, even though he was born in the UK.
Taseer wrote that he was first informed about the effort to take away his OCI status in September, and that he had been raised in India as an Indian by his mother Tavleen Singh.
Taseer writes that he was born in Britain and that at no time in the past was his citizenship questioned.
He wrote: “I had expected a reprisal, but not a severing. While the government did not initially reveal their motivations behind this action, they have now stated their reasons for removing my OCI: “concealed the fact that his late father was of Pakistani origin.” But it is hard not to feel, given the timing, that I was being punished for what I had written. Though I am a British citizen by birth, the OCI, as a substitute for dual citizenship, had made this bond even more real, as it had for so many people of Indian origin worldwide.”
He goes on to write how he was set to fly to India from Greece, but a lawyer warned him against doing so for fear being detained.
The MHA said in an official statement: “Govt. considers revoking Author Aatish Ali Tasser's OCI card after his Time article.", as reported by #ThePrint, is a complete misrepresentation and is devoid of any facts. Mr. Aatish Ali Taseer, while submitting his PIO application, concealed the fact that his late father was of Pakistani origin.
Mr. Taseer was given the opportunity to submit his reply/objections regarding his PIO/OCI cards, but he failed to dispute the notice. Thus, Mr. Aatish Ali Taseer becomes ineligible to hold an OCI card, as per the Citizenship Act, 1955. He has clearly not complied with very basic requirements and hidden information.”
