New Delhi: The attack on INDIA bloc’s North East Delhi candidate Kanhaiya Kumar Friday, a week before polling in the Capital, has snowballed into a controversy with the Congress accusing the BJP for the assault, saying that it showed the party’s desperation.
Kanhaiya was attacked by two men who slapped him and flung black ink on him after a meeting organised by AAP councillor Chhaya Sharma at her office in New Usmanpur in North East Delhi.
While a police complaint has been filed by Sharma, a senior Congress leader told ThePrint they will report the matter to the Election Commission of India.
The two attackers, who managed to flee, were later seen in a video on social media, purportedly claiming that they had attacked Kanhaiya. The two are yet to be arrested.
Speaking to ThePrint, sources in Ghaziabad Police identified the men as Annu Chaudhary and Daksh Chaudhary and said they had earlier been booked by the police in four cases.
Friday’s incident comes days after AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal alleged that she was assaulted by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s close aide Bibhav Kumar at the CM’s residence.
Delhi minister Atishi said Friday that Maliwal’s allegations were baseless and that the entire incident had been “orchestrated by the BJP as part of a controversy to frame Kejriwal”, as the party was rattled after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the Delhi liquor policy case.
The Congress, which is contesting the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in alliance with AAP, said the attack on Kanhaiya showed the BJP’s desperation.
Calling Kanhaiya a “Congress babbar sher” (lion), party general secretary K.C. Venugopal said on social media that the party stands with him against this “fascist and criminal regime’s dirty tactics”.
“The BJP is once again resorting to its usual attitude of thuggery and violence in the face of a historic defeat. The cowardly attack by BJP goons on our North East Delhi candidate @kanhaiyakumar is highly deplorable and shows their desperation,” he posted on X.
By and large, most of the senior leadership of the two alliance partners has remained silent on matters involving each other’s leaders – senior AAP leaders have not commented on the attack on Kanhaiya and most Congress leaders, except for Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and senior leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, have not commented on the Maliwal issue.
In Maliwal’s case, Vadra told ANI that the Congress stands with women if they are subjected to any wrong or atrocity but didn’t criticise the AAP. Chowdhury demanded a detailed investigation in the case. But other members of the INDIA bloc have remained silent on the two incidents.
“Grave injustice has been done to her (Maliwal). A detailed investigation into the matter should take place and the truth should come out. No one has the right to torture or beat anyone up, let alone a woman. Strict action should be taken against the person involved,” Chowdhury told PTI.
Immediately after the attack, Kanhaiya too hit out at the BJP for the attack and termed it an example of how the “BJP wants to finish democracy in the country”.
Addressing a huge gathering of AAP and Congress supporters after the attack, Kanhaiya said: “In politics there is a limit which should not be crossed. This incident is an example of what Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and (senior party leader) Rahul Gandhi have been saying — that the BJP wants to finish democracy in the country.”
Congress and AAP workers have also alleged that one of the two men who had attacked Kanhaiya had been spotted with BJP MP Manoj Tiwari.
Indian Youth Congress national president Srinivas B.V. posted on X a photograph of one of the men who had allegedly attacked Kanhaiya, sitting with Tiwari during a meeting, along with a video clip of the attack.
“Due to the frustration of defeat in the elections, the Prime Minister is talking nonsense, and his followers are attacking the Congress candidates by sending hired goons. @DelhiPolice should take immediate action against the BJP goons who cowardly attacked @kanhaiyakumar,” he wrote.
Tiwari’s team has denied the charge.
Neelkant Bakshi, a BJP member and part of Tiwari’s team, posted on X: “Kanhaiya Kumar is losing elections from North East Delhi and his team is spreading rumours. We do not indulge in such petty things. Tukde Tukde wale Kumar is trying to create a sensation by dragging the name of his opponent out of frustration in a baseless claim.”
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor told ThePrint: “There is no desperation in the BJP. The individuals concerned are not part of the BJP. These are people who sympathise and believe in the cause of a strong nation. They are hurt by the candidature of Kanhaiya Kumar, who represents the tukde tukde gang. This is not the first of its kind incident, as he has been attacked in the past too.”
Kanhaiya also hit out at Tiwari for “spreading lies about him to mislead people”.
“If I have done anything wrong, then they can arrest me and put me in jail. But they are circulating a fake video and trying to mislead the people here (referring to charges of him being in the tukde tukde gang). I want to tell them, don’t send your goons. I have seen your police and your jail.”
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‘Criminal record’
In a video on social media, the two men claim that they had attacked Kanhaiya. Daksh, who allegedly slapped Kanhaiya, said they had taken revenge on behalf of the people of India.
Talking about the incident in the clip, Daksh says: “We both brothers have given a tight slap to Kanhaiya who shouted slogans such as ‘Bharat tere tukde honge’ (India, you will be in pieces) and ‘Afzal tere kalguru’ (reference to sympathisers of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru)… we have given a response to him that no one can divide this country till the time people like us, sanatani sher, zinda hai (are alive).”
Annu adds: “He (Kanhaiya) talks about dividing the country. We will not let him enter Delhi. He calls our soliders rapists. Iska ilaj kar diya hai (we have taught him a lesson). We have taken revenge.”
Sources in Ghaziabad Police told ThePrint that Annu identifies himself as a member of the right-wing outfit Hindu Raksha Dal, while the outfit has denied connection to him due to his criminal record.
“He (Annu) has a criminal history related to spreading religious enmity and had another case registered against him before the Medina Mosque case,” a senior police officer said.
“They (Annu and Daksh) had entered Medina Mosque in Ghaziabad and told Muslims they could not offer Shab-e-barat prayers inside it and asked them to leave,” the officer explained.
Daksh, the officer added, is a YouTuber who hangs around with Annu, and Daksha’s address is in the jurisdiction of Garima Garden police station in Ghaziabad.
Based on the complaint of the AAP councillor, the Delhi Police are investigating the matter. In her complaint, Sharma, without naming the two men, said they had manhandled her and threatened her.
DCP (Northeast) Joy Tirkey told ThePrint: “Chhaya Sharma, AAP councillor, was hosting a meeting. After the meeting, when Chhaya Sharma came down to see off Kanhaiya Kumar, some persons came and put a garland around Kanhaiya Kumar. After garlanding him, some persons threw ink on Kanhaiya Kumar and tried to assault him. When Chhaya Sharma tried to intervene, they misbehaved and threatened her.”
Speaking to ThePrint, Sharma said: “So many women were present there. These people were part of the crowd waiting to meet Kanhaiya. As they had a garland in their hands, no one thought they would cause any harm.”
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)