New Delhi: Escalating the political brouhaha over Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's remarks on The Kashmir Files film, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya along with activists from his party's youth wing on Wednesday staged a protest outside his residence, which quickly got out of control with BJYM members vandalising the CM's residence and breaking CCTV cameras and boom barriers there.
Even as the BJP said it would continue its protest until the CM apologised, the Aam Aadmi Party went on to accuse the BJP and the Delhi Police of colluding with each other to let this happen — calling the incident an attempt to assassinate Kejriwal.
In a tweet, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia claimed that anti-social elements attacked and damaged CCTV cameras and security barriers at Kejriwal's residence in Delhi. The boom barrier at the gate was also broken, he said.
"The goons of the BJP resorted to vandalism at CM Arvind Kejriwal house. BJP's police instead of stopping them, took them to the gate of the house," Sisodia said in another tweet, adding later at a presser that the BJP had lost its mind after the crushing defeat in Punjab and that this attack was a reaction to the electoral loss.
Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain also alleged that the "attack by the BJP people took place in the presence of Delhi Police personnel during which CCTV cameras and barriers were broken."
BJYM national secretary Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga said the workers and leaders of the organisation staged a protest near Kejriwal's residence but did not resort to vandalism.
"We were stopped by the police and around 20-25 of our members and leaders, including Tejasvi Surya, were detained and taken to a police station. They were later released," Bagga said.
Meanwhile, brushing aside allegations that they did not prevent the protesters from getting rowdy, the Delhi Police said it had registered a case against "unidentified" persons in the matter and is dispatching teams for arrests.
The case has been registered under 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) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.
Senior AAP leaders along with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Deputy CM of Delhi Manish Sisodia lashed out against the BJP for orchestrating the incident. "Today, in front of the police, in fact in its protection, BJP's goons tried to break into the residence of CM Kejriwal. As the police stood mum, the goons managed to damage CCTV of his security cordoning and even broke apart boom barriers at his residence. It is clear that this was a planned conspiracy," the Deputy CM said.
He added that the BJP has forgotten the tenets of morality itself and since they can't beat AAP in elections so it has stooped down to the level of wanting to take CM Kejriwal's life.
Sisodia said: "I want to warn the BJP — don't try to touch Arvind Kejriwal Ji. This country, its people won't tolerate the attempts you are making to take his life. The attack orchestrated by the BJP had an accomplice in the police itself. The police escorted the goons to the boom barriers, they stood still as the crowd broke the CCTVs and vandalised the area."
Mann, in the meantime, rebuked BJP's politics of hate and vendetta and said that the BJP is rattled seeing the support being received for the Kejriwal Model of Governance. "The attack on the house of Delhi Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal while in the presence of police is a very cowardly act," the Punjab CM added. Lashing out at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, BJYM president Surya dubbed him an "urban naxal" and said he is trying to "whitewash the Hindu genocide in Kashmir," even as he added that his party's youth wing members would continue their protests.