New Delhi: Several Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, including Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj, were detained by the Delhi Police on Sunday while protesting near the BJP headquarters over the alleged circulation of a “doctored” video of former Delhi chief minister Atishi linked to the Guru Tegh Bahadur issue.
The protest came amid an escalating political confrontation, with AAP also launching a sharp attack on the BJP government over the daylight murder of its party worker Rachna Yadav in north Delhi.
AAP leaders accused the BJP of spreading a fake video to malign Atishi and demanded an apology from Chief Minister Rekha Gupta. “The BJP should apologise for making fake videos in relation to Guru Tegh Bahadur. This is their dirty politics. They made this fake video to run away from the real issues of Delhi,” AAP MLA
Sanjeev Jha said during the protest. He added that people would not forgive what he termed
“disrespect” to the Sikh Guru and demanded an apology from BJP leaders.
The controversy centres around a video clip allegedly circulated by BJP leaders claiming that Atishi insulted Guru Tegh Bahadur during a Delhi Assembly debate last November. The BJP has rejected AAP’s allegations. Delhi BJP president Virendraa Sachdeva said, “Leader of the Opposition Atishi in the Delhi Assembly used abusive words about our Gurus, and when BJP leaders raised this issue, Arvind Kejriwal got an FIR registered against Kapil Mishra by the Punjab Police, which the Punjab Police has no authority to do.” He added that Kejriwal, Atishi and the AAP leadership would have to apologise for their remarks.
Atishi has denied the allegations, accusing the BJP of indulging in petty politics. An FIR has been registered by the Jalandhar Police over the circulation of the allegedly edited video. Separately, AAP intensified its attack on the BJP government over law and order following the murder of party worker Rachna Yadav, who was shot dead in broad daylight outside her home in Shalimar Bagh, the Assembly constituency of CM Rekha Gupta. AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal said, “The situation in Delhi has deteriorated
to such an extent that no one is safe anymore. This crime in the CM’s own Assembly constituency is proof of the BJP government’s failure and the complete collapse of law and order.”