AAP steps up stir against CEC; bid to vitiate atmosphere: BJP

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday intensified its agitation against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, seeking his removal, and demanded action against the police officer whom three women journalists have accused of sexual harassment.

Traffic movement in central Delhi was temporarily restricted as hundreds of personnel from Delhi Police, Central Armed Police Forces and the Rapid Action Force were deployed, along with buses and PCR vans, to prevent the protest march called by various organisations, civil society groups and student organisations, including AAP’s student wing — the Association of Students for Alternative Politics.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), meanwhile, accused AAP of trying to “vitiate Delhi’s political atmosphere” and disrupt law and order.

AAP staged protests outside the Parliament Street police station and later at India Gate, where at least 25 of its members were detained while trying to march towards the headquarters of the Election Commission.

The party’s Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj, joined by party colleagues and ASAP members, alleged “different standards of action” in cases involving ordinary citizens and those in positions of power. 

He demanded an FIR against the senior police officer accused of sexual harassment.

“For the past two days, there have been protests at Jantar Mantar, but not a single protester raised a hand against police personnel or engaged in any form of violence. Yet, look at the manner in which the police treated elderly citizens, civil society members, MPs and MLAs. We tolerated all of that,” he said. However, Mr. Bharadwaj added that if an officer is found misbehaving with a woman journalist, “India will not tolerate it.”

Reacting to a video of Mr. Bharadwaj being detained, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal wrote on X: “This is absolutely shocking. [Prime Minister Narendra] Modiji has left even Hitler behind.”

‘Communist ideology’

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said it was “extremely unfortunate” that a handful of people associated with “communist ideology” were trying to “vitiate Delhi’s political atmosphere”.

He alleged that AAP and its “communist allies” had brought people from Punjab for the protests in the national capital.

(With inputs from PTI)