Hours after eight people were arrested by the police, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party a day after an incident of vandalism broke out during a protest led by the youth wing of the saffron party. “If the world’s biggest party, the one in power indulges in such hooliganism, what message are we sending to the youth,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi police have said that more arrests are to follow in the next few days in connection with the incident of vandalism outside the residence of Delhi CM and AAP convenor Kejriwal on Wednesday.
“Kejriwal is not important. I can give my life for the country. The country doesn’t move forward with such hooliganism.
If the world’s biggest party, the party in power indulges in such hooliganis, what message are we sending to the youth.
In this way, the country cannot progress,” Kejriwal said.
Members of the BJP youth wing allegedly broke into the residence of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal during a protest on Wednesday against his remarks on ‘The Kashmir Files’ film, further intensifying the war of words between the two parties.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging it was a “conspiracy to kill” Kejriwal as the saffron party is unable to defeat the Aam Aadmi Party in elections.
The BJP accused AAP of scripting a drama and playing the “victim card” after the “public anger” against Kejriwal’s remarks “mocking” displaced Kashmiri Pandits.
The Delhi Police said that a case has been registered against unidentified persons in connection with the incident. The case was registered under IPC sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.
He said Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act has also been invoked and teams have been dispatched for arrests. Sisodia alleged that the BJP youth wing activists damaged CCTV cameras as well as security barricades at the chief minister’s residence in the presence of Delhi Police personnel. They allegedly threw paint on the main gate of the residence.
The protestors, led by BJP Yuva Morcha’s national president and MP Tejasvi Surya, were holding a demonstration against Kejriwal’s remarks on the recently released controversial movie ‘The Kashmir Files’, which is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley after the outbreak of militancy. The BJP, which has been targeting Kejriwal after he took a swipe at the party for promoting the film, demanded an apology from the chief minister, saying that he has insulted Hindus with his remarks about the movie.
Dismissing AAP’s outburst after the protest, Surya asserted that the “victims in this issue are Kashmiri Hindus and not the Aam Aadmi Party and Kejriwal”. The chief minister’s residence is located at 6, Flag Staff Road. The protest started around 11.30 am on Wednesday. The Delhi Police said proper arrangements were put in place but some 15-20 protestors managed to reach the Flag Staff road and were immediately removed.
Some of the protesters, at around 1 PM, breached two barricades and reached outside CM House where they created a ruckus and shouted slogans, said DCP Kalsi. “They were carrying a small box of paint from which they threw paint outside the door. In the melee, a boom barrier arm was also found vandalised as also a CCTV camera. A police team immediately removed them from the spot and detained around 70 persons,” he said.
A furious AAP launched a scathing attack on the BJP. “As it could not defeat Arvind Kejriwal in the recent Punjab polls, the BJP now wants to kill him (hatya karna chahta hai). Today’s attack on the chief minister’s house shows that the BJP, with the help of police, wants to kill Kejriwal,” Sisodia alleged at a press conference at his residence.
He alleged that the “life-threatening attack” on Kejriwal was “properly planned”, adding that the Aam Aadmi Party will lodge a formal complaint in connection with the incident. Taking to Twitter, MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that after AAP’s victory in the Punjab elections, the central government is “so terrified” they are hatching an attack on the elected chief minister in collusion with the Delhi Police.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said it was a cowardly act and showed that the BJP is afraid of only AAP and its national convener. The BJP hit back at AAP, alleging that Kejriwal had “mocked Kashmiri Hindus who were forced out of their homes by murderous mobs”.
“AAP, shaken by the public anger, is scripting a new drama. Remember, those who are startled by an unarmed crowd at their doorstep were the same ones who were making a mockery of Kashmiri Hindus being forced out of their homes by murderous mobs,” senior Delhi BJP leader and Rohini MLA Vijendra Gupta tweeted. Another senior BJP leader alleged that Kejriwal has supported the perpetrators of the “genocide” by claiming that the film depicted “lies”.
“You’re yelping ‘attempted murder’ for protestors dabbing paint on your gate? You had no shame laughing callously at Kashmiri Hindus’ plight. ‘You called the 1st movie depicting their genocide lies despite countless documented cases -You thus supported actual rapists & murderers,” BJP’s national vice president and Delhi in-charge Jay Panda alleged in a tweet.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP head office here, Surya slammed Kejriwal’s remarks, saying “this attempt to whitewash the genocide is injustice on a civilisation”. “It is a time-tested tactic of urban Naxals. Our protest is not against any party and this is not merely regarding ‘The Kashmir Files’. This protest is against the inhuman mindset of Kejriwal who denies the Hindu genocide in Kashmir,” he said.
