New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal was slapped by an autorickshaw driver on Tuesday while he was campaigning at Sultanpuri in North-West Delhi. With a swollen eye, he left the campaign midway and held a silent prayer at Rajghat, where his supporters went to the extent of equating the repeated attacks on him with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
Mr Kejriwal was in an open jeep when a man in a blue shirt first garlanded him and then slapped him hard on his left cheek. The 38-year-old attacker, identified as Lalli, a resident of Kirari village, was beaten up by AAP supporters and then handed over to the police. Lalli reportedly accused Mr Kejriwal of having “betrayed” auto drivers.
This is the fifth time, and the second occasion in Delhi, that the AAP convener has been physically attacked in the course of the Lok Sabha campaign. Just four days ago, on April 4, he had been attacked by a 19-year-old boy in South Delhi. Prior to that, on March 28, a man had hit him in Haryana and on March 25 he had been pelted with ink, eggs and mobil oil while campaigning in Varanasi, where he is contesting against Narendra Modi. On March 5, his car had been attacked with iron rods while he was visiting Gujarat.
Alleging political conspiracy, Mr Kejriwal said, “In the coming days I apprehend more attacks on me. I might also get killed.” Mr Kejriwal said that he would not file any complaint against any attacker as he had already forgiven them.
“The police knows everything and can investigate on its own. I forgive all those who attacked me. Assault me as much as you want... I won’t retaliate. I appeal to all our volunteers not to retaliate, otherwise there will be no difference between us and them.”
The AAP leader said “Let them tell me a place and time... I will come there. Let them beat me as much as they want, but will that solve the country’s problems?”
After repeated assaults, questions are being raised why Kejriwal is being attacked during his Lok Sabha campaigning. While his political rivals claim that people were expressing their anger against the party for making “false” promises before the Assembly elections in Delhi, the AAP leaders claim that they had been attacked in Gujarat, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh where they were contesting for the first time.
Even Mr Kejriwal wondered way he was being repeatedly attacked in the states which were governed by other political parties. “We ran the government in Delhi for 49 days. So one can argue that those who attacked me had some grudge against me or my party. What about Gujarat, which is governed by the BJP. Why was I attacked in the Congress-ruled Haryana state. Even Uttar Pradesh is run by the Samajwadi Party.”
There is a general feeling in the AAP leadership that the attacks were the handiwork of their principal opponent, BJP, as the party’s supremo himself is contesting against the saffron brigade’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, in Varanasi in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
“The BJP want to demoralize our activists by attacking our top leaders. But such gimmicks have exposed them before the public,” an AAP functionary said.
But the BJP claims that the attacks are “stage-managed” to hog the limelight of the media. “They are being attacked by their own so-called supporters. The AAP supporters have realized that the party leadership had used them to meet their personal political aspirations,” a senior BJP leader said.
