Farmers Movement Archive

BJP workers vandalise DJB office, AAP calls it premeditated attack

Delhi Jal Board (DJB) vice-chairman and ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Raghav Chadha alleged on Thursday that a group of protesters belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by the state unit chief Aadesh Gupta, barged into the civic agency’s headquarters in Jhandewalan and vandalised his office.Addressing a press conference, Chadha said the “goons” were shouting slogans against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for supporting farmers who are protesting against three federal farm laws aimed at liberalising agriculture trade. The charge drew a sharp rebuttal by the opposition party, and triggered a blame game, but footage of the incident showed Gupta and a group of supporters storming into the office of DJB at Jhandewalan.“The goons of the BJP said that they are disgruntled because Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party have stood in solidarity with protesting farmers, because the AAP government did not allow stadiums to be converted into jails, and because the AAP leaders tore apart copies of the contentious farm laws in the assembly. They also admitted to leading similar attacks at residences of the chief minister and deputy CM Manish Sisodia (earlier this month),” Chadha, who is also spokesperson of the AAP, said. He also alleged inaction on the part of the Delhi Police, which report to the Union home ministry.Kejriwal, too, hit out at the BJP. “The AAP stands with the farmers and we are not scared of such cowardly attacks. The BJP should know that. I appeal to all AAP workers to not get provoked by such attacks and continue supporting the farmers,” he tweeted. While videos of the office premises showed broken furniture, glass doors and what seemed to be blood on the floor of the building, Sanjay Bhatia, deputy commissioner of police (central), denied that any DJB employees or AAP workers were injured in the incident. He, however, said that some police personnel were injured. “There was no blood at the scene,” said Bhatia. The police briefly detained 30 people, including Delhi’s BJP chief, for the incident. Gupta later said it was the AAP volunteers who “sabotaged” his “peaceful protest” against an alleged tanker scam.“During the demonstration outside the Delhi Jal Board headquarters, Aam Aadmi Party volunteers attacked BJP workers. One worker sustained an injury to the backbone and was admitted to a trauma centre, while four others also suffered serious injuries,” he said.The BJP was staging a “peaceful” demonstration outside the DJB headquarters against the “tanker scam” and problems faced by people due to water supply issues, he claimed. “Aam Aadmi Party volunteers forcibly barged into the headquarters, vandalised it and attacked the BJP workers. The Kejriwal government conspired to defame the BJP by sabotaging our protest,” he further said. CCTV footage shared by Chadha on his Twitter account showed some men scaling an iron gate and then helping a group on the outside to break through the gates. Some men in uniform inside the gates appeared to be first reasoning out with those who had scaled down, and then trying to stop them from breaking open the gates. Chadha, who was not there at the time of the incident, also alleged that the police were standing “quietly” behind the protesters and “facilitating the attack” while the private security guards tried to prevent the trespassing. “It was clearly a premediated attack... But we will not be scared of such cowardly attacks. Now we will continue supporting farmers and protesting against the contentious farm laws,” said Chadha.The incident took place between noon and 1pm, police said. “There were two levels of barricades and then the main gate of the headquarters. The protesters managed to break through the first two barricades and then barged through the gates even as we tried to stop them,” said a senior police officer who asked not to be named.A DJB employee said on condition of anonymity that he watched the men barge in. “About 30 men managed to enter. They were carrying banners against the CM and were shouting slogans. They stayed inside for several minutes. I was watching everything from the balcony of the first floor as they went on a rampage on the ground floor. They didn’t even care to cover their faces. We thought they would come up and attack us too, but they left before that,” said the employee. DCP Bhatia denied any lapses or inaction by the police. “The force there was prompt and active,” he said.

Hindustan Times

25-12-2020

Delhi