The Aam Aadmi Party claimed on Wednesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party was responsible for the violence in Delhi in February, PTI reported. AAP Spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said there are public records to show that BJP leaders had spread hatred between Hindu and Muslim communities.
The violence, which took place mainly between February 23 and February 26, led to the deaths of 53 people and injuries to hundreds.
“AAP has a straight take on Delhi riots that the BJP and main people of the party are responsible,” Bharadwaj said. “This doesn’t even need investigation as public records are available to show how they spread hatred between two communities and they increased hatred to the extent that it led to riots. Everyone knows how the party contributed to the riots.”
Bharadwaj also alleged that the Delhi Police and other investigation agencies have become “political wings” of the BJP. “Everyone knows that the police, Enforcement Directorate, CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation], Income Tax Department...they all are political wings of BJP,” he said. “Like there is youth wing, women’s wing, traders’ wing so these are Delhi Police wing of BJP, CBI wing of BJP. Their credibility is minimum so there is no point commenting on them. Delhi Police can name anyone as per their imagination.”
Bharadwaj also claimed that the Centre has taken a massive loan from China for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana project.
Responding to the AAP leader’s allegations, Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana said the Delhi violence case is in court. “Why is AAP so afraid of this inquiry and arrests?” he asked.
Khurana claimed there were links between suspended AAP leader Tahir Hussain, an accused in the case, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The Delhi Police Special Cell has named 15 people as accused in a chargesheet filed in connection with the violence that rocked the Capital. All the 15 have been accused under sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act. The chargesheet filed at Karkardooma court is said to be over 17,000 pages.
Pinjra Tod members Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, Jamia Millia Islamia students Asif Iqbal Tanha, Meeran Haider and Safoora Zargar, United Against Hate co-founder Khalid Saifi, suspended Aam Aadmi Councillor Tahir Hussain and former Congress councillor Ishrat Jahan are among the others named by the police.
The chargesheet, however, does not name Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam as accused in the Delhi riots case. Khalid and Sharjeel were arrested a few days ago. Their names will reportedly be in the supplementary chargesheet.
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