Arun Yadav was the Haryana BJP's IT cell in-charge (File).
The Information Technology chief of the BJP's Haryana unit, Arun Yadav, was dropped by the party on Thursday, amid growing calls for his arrest for controversial tweets against Muslims and Islam.
Arun Yadav has found himself facing a spiralling backlash for his social media posts, widely shared by his detractors, with many contrasting his impunity with the treatment of Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking website Alt News, who has been arrested over a 2018 tweet.
#ArrestArunYadav was among the top trends on Twitter on Thursday, with his tweets posted between May this year and 2017 shared thousands of times.
Many also said the lenience shown to Mr Yadav matched that for former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who triggered a massive outcry with her comments on Prophet Muhammad on a TV debate but has not faced any action like Mr Zubair.
No police complaint has been filed against Mr Yadav yet, Haryana officials told NDTV, and the BJP is yet to remove him from the party.
"The BJP has sacked yet another 'fringe element'. But instead of this eyewash, will these 'hate minions' be arrested?" Youth Congress chief Srinivas BV tweeted.
"Hello @DGPHaryana @DelhiPolice If Zubair can be arrested for his 2018 tweet, then why not Arun yadav ?" tweeted Shaikh Sadeque, president of the Tipu Sultan Party.
Mr Zubair was arrested in Delhi on June 27 days after he flagged Nupur Sharma's controversial comments on Prophet Muhammad on a TV show.
On July 2, the police added an extra charge against Mr Zubair under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, and he was kept in custody for 14 more days. On July 4, another case was filed in Uttar Pradesh against him for calling three hate-accused Hindu hardliners "hatemongers".
He was sent to 14 more days in custody on Thursday.
Mr Zubair has approached the Supreme Court for bail, citing death threats.
Hearing a petition by Nupur Sharma last week, the Supreme Court had questioned why she had not been arrested and held her responsible for "igniting emotions across the country".