BJP inducting CAA protesters part of election plan, says AAP

nNEW DELHI: Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for admitting to its fold some people who took part in the long-running protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the Shaheen Bagh area which, it alleged, had been planned by the BJP to polarise the electorate ahead of the February assembly elections.

AAP alleged that the Shaheen Bagh protest was “pre-planned, scripted and strategised” by the BJP. to win more seats in the February 8 elections. It also accused the BJP of engineering the communal violence later that month in northeast Delhi that left 53 people dead and around 400 injured.

At a digital press conference, AAP’S chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned the BJP, which heads the Central government, and Delhi Police, which reports to the Centre, as to how they allowed the Shaheen Bagh protest to continue for 101 days when other protests in the city -- by farmers, students, doctors or the differently abled -- are not allowed to last three hours.

“It was because the BJP planned and executed the Shaheen Bagh protests that its vote percentage rose from 18% to 38% in the recently concluded Delhi elections. The BJP used the protest to polarise the north-east Delhi region and won some seats there as well. After that, it engineered a riot there. Today, the people who raised anti-national slogans are part of the BJP,” Bhardwaj alleged.

The BJP denied AAP’S allegations and said AAP was making baseless claims to garner support from the minority communities ahead of the municipal elections in the capital, due to take place sometime in April 2022. The last municipal elections in Delhi took place on April 23, 2017 and the BJP managed to win a majority in all three civic bodies.

“The AAP has misled people, especially the Muslim community, for political gain. Their allegations have no meaning as the Muslim community supports the BJP and Narendra Modi. Now, with the municipal elections scheduled in 2022, AAP is nervous about losing support,” said Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta.

AAP’S attack came a day after the BJP announced that several Muslim residents of Shaheen Bagh, which was the epicentre of anti-caa protests for months, have joined the party.

While taking them into the party’s fold on Sunday, the Delhi BJP chief had said it was a result of the Prime Minister’s efforts to reach out to every section of the society.

At his press conference, Bhardwaj also mentioned inflammatory comments allegedly made by BJP MPS Parvesh Verma and Anurag Thakur during the party’s Delhi assembly election campaign. In the elections, the AAP won 63 of the 70 assembly seats.