Ink attack on Kejriwal, AAP cries conspiracy

The incident happened at a time when national Capital is on high alert due to possible terror attacks in light of the recent Pathankot terrorist attack and the upcoming Republic Day celebrations.

“What if somebody throws acid instead of ink? If ink can be thrown, it can also be a bomb or an acid attack on the CM. Even after the incident, the woman gave bytes on camera and was not arrested. This is a conspiracy by police,” said Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. 

“The Delhi police want such attacks on the Delhi Chief Minister. The police is working on the instruction of the BJP and they want to eliminate Kejriwal,” he added.

The incident raises concern on the security of the Chief Minister, who has been given Z category cover. 

Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai also alleged conspiracy by political opponents in the incident. “Those who could not fail the odd-even scheme in 15 days have resorted to such a shameful act. It is highly condemnable,” said Rai.

The woman came close to the lectern while Kejriwal was delivering his speech, waved some papers towards him, and then threw ink at the Chief Minister. Some ink also fell on the Chief Minister and those standing close to him.

The woman, who claimed to be a member of the Punjab unit of the Aam Aadmi Sena, a splinter group of Delhi’s ruling AAP, was later whisked away by the police and questioned at the Model Town police station.

The incident took place around 4.50 pm when Kejriwal was five minutes into his address at the rally organised by the city government to thank the people of Delhi for making the pilot road-rationing scheme a “grand success”.

There was a commotion following the ink attack, forcing Kejriwal to stop his speech for around seven minutes. He later said, “Leave her. She is referring to some scam...CNG scam. Take the papers from her. Whenever something good is attempted in the country or in Delhi, some forces create all sorts of hurdles. As Gopal Rai said, many forces had tried to ensure the odd-even scheme failed.” 

Meanwhile, the police said the woman was being interrogated but refused to divulge her name.

The woman, on her part, claimed that she has “proof in the form of a CD” that “these people have committed the CNG scam”. The alleged CNG scam had happened under the previous Congress dispensation and the Kejriwal government had recently set up a Commission of Inquiry to probe it. 

Citing jurisdictional issues, the Centre had declared the probe illegal, but an unfazed AAP government decided to continue with it.

However, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nalin Kohli termed the attack as ‘unfortunate’. “It is not acceptable in a civilised society,” he said. 

The Delhi Police in a statement issued in the evening said: “These (charges levied by Sisodia) are misconceived and unfounded. Appropriate law and order arrangements were made for the Chhatrasal Stadium function by the police as per the practice for CM functions. In fact enhanced police deployment was made for law and order maintenance in view of the large crowd expected to attend the function.”