New Delhi: Members of the BJP youth wing allegedly vandalized property outside the residence of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal here during a protest here Wednesday. The protests happened after his remarks on the ‘Kashmir Files’ film. It further intensified the war of words between the two parties.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia lashed out at the Bhartiya Janata Party. He alleged it was a ‘conspiracy’ to kill Arvind Kejriwal as the saffron party is unable to defeat the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in elections. The BJP accused AAP of scripting a drama and playing the ‘victim card’ after the ‘public anger’ against Kejriwal’s remarks ‘mocking’ the 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) and Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.
Kalsi informed an investigation is underway and teams have been dispatched for arrests.
Sisodia alleged that the BJP youth wing activists damaged CCTV cameras as well as security barriers 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 were led by BJP Yuva Morcha’s national president and MP Tejasvi Surya. 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. Surya asserted that the ‘victims in this issue are Kashmiri Hindus and not the Aam Aadmi Party and Kejriwal’. The residence of Kejriwal is located at 6, Flag Staff Road. The protest started around 11.30am 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 1.00pm, breached two barricades and reached outside the CM’s House where they created a ruckus and shouted slogans, said 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,” Kalsi 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’. Sisodia added that AAP will lodge a formal complaint in connection with the incident.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said it was a cowardly act. It showed that the BJP is afraid of only AAP and its national convener.
The BJP hit back at AAP and accused Kejriwal of ‘making a mockery of 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’.