Bharatiya Janata Party workers protested outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence on Thursday against his remarks about Manoj Tiwari. Kejriwal had on Wednesday said that if the National Register of Citizens was implemented in the state, the saffron party’s Delhi unit chief would be the first person to leave.

The police detained workers of the BJP’s Purvanchal Morcha who were protesting against Kejriwal’s remark, ANI reported.

The final list of the National Register of Citizens in Assam was released on August 31. It excluded more than 19 lakh people out of 3.3 crore applicants.

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Last month, Tiwari had called for the exercise to be replicated in Delhi to identify “illegal immigrants” and said the situation had become dangerous. He had also blamed “infiltrators” for an attack on a journalist in the national capital.

After Kejriwal’s jibe, Tiwari said: “If I am illegal, then is Kejriwal implying that every Purvanchali [Purvanchal is the region consisting of the eastern end of Uttar Pradesh and the western end of Bihar] is illegal?” “You want to throw them out of Delhi too? NRC identifies illegal immigrants, that is people who are from outside India and not from other parts of India. What the CM said will now be answered by the people of Delhi.”

The Delhi unit of the BJP also filed a police complaint against Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj on Thursday, The Hindu reported. Bharadwaj had asked if Tiwari had proof of residence in Delhi since 1971.

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The complaint was filed by rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra and BJP leader Neelkant Bakshi. The plaint, filed at the Parliament Street Police Station, alleged that Kejriwal and Bharadwaj had insulted the sentiments of Purvanchalis.

Assembly elections for 70 constituencies in the national capital are due to be held early next year.

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