‘A party of goons’: AAP steps up attack on BJP

“Our country needs to boycott parties that support hooligans, criminals if it actually wants to become a world leader,” Kejriwal tweeted.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of patronising “street thugs and hooligans”, a day after the saffron party’s Delhi unit felicitated eight men who were arrested for vandalising chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence last month.

File photo of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Three senior AAP leaders — deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha and chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj — in separate press conferences on Saturday alleged that the BJP “makes politicians out of criminals” and protects hooligans.

Kejriwal too later tweeted: “If someone commits hooliganism in America, he goes to jail, in India he goes to a specific party. If someone molests a girl in Europe, he goes to jail, in India he goes to this party. They will never make good schools. They need lakhs of illiterate goons, thugs and unemployed people for their politics.”

“Our country needs to boycott parties that support hooligans, criminals if it actually wants to become a world leader,” he said in the next tweet.

The BJP’s Delhi unit on Thursday felicitated eight members of the party’s youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, who were arrested for vandalising Kejriwal’s official residence in Civil Lines. Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta, who welcomed the accused with garlands, tweeted, “The eight BJYM activists who went to jail for protesting against anti-Hindu Kejriwal got bail from the court after 14 days. Welcomed these young revolutionaries at the party office today...”

Chadha called the BJP the Bharatiya “Jaahil” Party.

“The BJP will never develop good schools and colleges because they are fuelled by mobs of uneducated goons. This is a clear message to the BJP — you may continue to indulge in vandalism and hooliganism, while the AAP will promote educated, honest patriots who will build schools and mohalla clinics. There is no doubt that the BJP now stands for the Bharatiya ‘Jaahil’ Party,” he said.

Bhardwaj said the BJP is the only political party in the world that “openly supports molesters”. “In the Unnao case, the BJP government shamelessly supported rapist and murderer MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar... the BJP is building an army of unemployed brainwashed youths to cause riots, build an atmosphere of fear, and make it difficult for women to step out,” Bhardwaj said.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, “The way AAP leaders have compared convicts of some sad rape incidents with the youth who participated in the March 30 demonstration shows their political immaturity... Ever since Kejriwal insulted Kashmiri Hindus, AAP is being seen as an anti-Hindu party. In the press conference, the anti-Hindu mindset of the three AAP leaders was clearly visible. Their statements lacked logic.”