New Delhi: The election battle in Delhi took a controversial turn Thursday when Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia and the party’s East Delhi candidate Atishi accused her opponent, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Gautam Gambhir, of slander.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital, Atishi alleged that Gambhir has distributed pamphlets in the constituency, disparaging her. But Gambhir and the BJP flatly rejected the allegation.
In the pamphlet allegedly distributed, the AAP leader has been called a “prostitute”.
“I have only one question for Gautam Gambhir. If he can stoop this low to defeat a strong woman like me, then how will he protect the women in his constituency after he becomes a parliamentarian?” asked Atishi, who broke down while addressing the media.
Never imagined Gautam Gambhir to stoop so low. How can women expect safety if people wid such mentality are voted in?
Atishi, stay strong. I can imagine how difficult it must be for u. It is precisely this kind of forces we have to fight against. https://t.co/vcYObWNK6y
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 9, 2019
In a tweet, Delhi chief minister and AAP head Arvind Kejriwal said, “Never imagined Gautam Gambhir to stoop so low. How can women expect safety if people wid such mentality are voted in.”
However, Gautam Gambhir in his response denied the allegations and offered to withdraw his candidature if the charges are proven.
“I abhor your act of outraging a woman’s modesty @ArvindKejriwal and that too your own colleague. And all this for winning elections? U r filth Mr CM and someone needs ur very own झाड़ू to clean ur dirty mind,” Gambhir said on Twitter.
I abhor your act of outraging a woman’s modesty @ArvindKejriwal and that too your own colleague. And all this for winning elections? U r filth Mr CM and someone needs ur very own झाड़ू to clean ur dirty mind.
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) May 9, 2019
Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia also took a swipe at the BJP candidate at the press conference held at AAP headquarters.
“We clapped for Gambhir when he bashed opponents with fours and sixes while playing for India but never in our worst dream did we think he’d stoop this low to win an election,” said Sisodia.
Within minutes of the conference, Atishi saw widespread support on social media.
The pamphlet
The pamphlet allegedly distributed by Gambhir and the BJP in East Delhi is titled “Atishi Marlena – Know your candidate”.
The pamphlet goes on to describe Atishi as being married to a “beef eating Christian from Andhra Pradesh”. It further claims that Atishi was caught “red handed while having sex in a school in Andhra Pradesh and the man had to marry her under compelling circumstance”.
It also alludes to Atishi having an “affair” with Sisodia, her mentor. “She is not staying with her husband because he husband has disowned her as Sisodia is fulfilling all her desires of a married woman (sic).”
Using casteist slurs, the pamphlet adds, “Kanjar Sisodia is a schedule caste. He is a handsome man but a SC cannot be handsome, this proves he is not born of lawful parents. His mother must have got pregnant with some handsome man from an upper caste (sic).”
Urging people to not cast their ballot for Atishi, the pamphlet asks voters to “think for once that if she wins u will have to go to a prostitute for help or for some work”.
BJP’s denial
Praveen Shankar Kapoor, spokesperson of the Delhi BJP and in-charge of Gambhir’s campaign, rubbished the allegations made by the AAP leaders.
“The allegation that has been levelled is just another proof of their dejection,” he told ThePrint.
Referring to AAP’s repeated charges against the nomination of multiple BJP candidates in Delhi, he said, “Everyone knows AAP plays dirty tricks. They have been trying to drag all of our candidates through the mud.”
The timing of AAP’s allegation is a sign of their desperation, added Kapoor.
Also read: Atishi, will AAP also treat Muslims as just a pliant, fearful votebank, asks Umar Khalid