AAP spars with BJP over violent twist to farm rally
NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the violence that unfolded on Tuesday in several parts of Delhi, including the ITO intersection and Red Fort, alleging that it “infiltrated” farmer groups to derail what was meant to be a peaceful march on the occasion of Republic Day.
The party’s spokesperson, Raghav Chadha, also accused Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu of instigating violence, and alleged that he was close to the BJP — and shared several photographs of Sidhu with multiple BJP leaders as evidence of their nexus. Sidhu was seen leading the mob that hoisted the Nishan Sahib flag at Red Fort.
The BJP, while dismissing these allegations at a separate press briefing by the party’s Delhi unit president Adesh Gupta, in turn accused the AAP government in Delhi of supporting the farmer groups with Wifi connections which were used by “miscreants” to spread misinformation through social media.
Both parties also ended up identifying a man named Amrik Singh, who purportedly shared photos and videos on social media and claimed to have taken part in the violence at Red Fort.
Gupta alleged that Singh was close to the AAP, sharing his photographs with leaders such as Tilak Nagar MLA Jarnail Singh and the party’s Lok Sabha MP from Punjab Bhagwant Mann. Chadha hit back not long after, accusing Singh of being a BJP supporter and shared his photos with BJP MPS like Parvesh Verma and Hans Raj Hans.
There was no clarity on where either sets of photos were clicked, and HT could not check their veracity.
“Supporters and agents of the BJP infiltrated the tractor rally and turned it violent. The BJP has plans to malign the image of farmer groups who have been protesting against three contentious farm laws. It is also BJP’S attempt to divert attention from the controversy surrounding the anti-farmer laws,” Chadha alleged.
“The Bjp-led central government is now using the police against leaders of the ongoing peaceful protest. And, people who actually instigated yesterday’s violence are yet to be arrested. Deep Sidhu is one of them and is an agent of the BJP,” said Chadha who is also the AAP’S joint in-charge of Punjab unit.
BJP leader Gupta, meanwhile said the AAP leaders and supporters have a “direct hand” in the Republic Day violence, especially what unfolded at Red Fort. “The AAP government openly collaborated with the violent groups by providing them with free Wifi internet at Singhu border which was used for spreading misinformation by miscreants,” he said.
“This is a well-planned conspiracy of AAP to wipe out the constitutional arrangements in Delhi. It should be thoroughly probed by agencies,” he added.
Deep Sidhu’s phone number was switched off when Hindustan Times tried to reach him for a response on Wednesday.
THE BJP SAID WIFI CONNECTIONS PROVIDED BY AAP WERE USED BY ‘MISCREANTS’ TO SPREAD MISINFORMATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA