BJP behind anti-India slogans, says Kejriwal

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday sought the arrest of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists blamed for violence in Delhi University (DU) and said Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has promised “strict action”.The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader tweeted that he met Baijal and demanded the arrest of “those who caused violence in DU, shouted anti-India slogans and who threatened (student) Gurmehar (Kaur)”.After the meeting, Baijal also tweeted: “Chief Minister, Delhi met me at Raj Niwas. I have assured him that strict immediate action will be taken against those violating law.”Kejriwal’s meeting followed the February 22 attacks on students, lecturers and journalists on the Delhi University campus for which the ABVP has been blamed.The violence came a day after the ABVP forced Ramjas College in the campus to cancel a seminar which Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid were to address.Khalid was among the students charged with sedition over an event at JNU last year where anti-national slogans were raised, while Shehla Rashid, a former JNU Students Union member, was instrumental in the movement against students’ arrest.Later, when student Gurmehar Kaur of Lady Shri Ram College launched a social media campaign against the RSS-affiliated ABVP, she received death and rape threats, triggering widespread condemnation.After meeting the lieutenant governor, Kejriwal said people who threatened the Kargil war martyr’s daughter should be arrested immediately, so that a message could be sent that the administration and police would not tolerate such activities.“Lieutenant governor has assured that strict action will be taken against people who indulged in violence and the people who threatened Gurmehar (Kaur),” Kejriwal told reporters after the meeting.Kejriwal alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) people were behind the violence and anti-India sloganeering in the Delhi University.“They (BJP) send their own people to shout anti-India slogans and after that their supporters come and beat other people accusing them of shouting such slogans,” Kejriwal alleged.“Once the culprits are arrested, it will become clear that BJP’s people were behind the violence and anti-India sloganeering in the campus,” Kejriwal said.He also said that the people, who raised anti-India slogans in the JNU, were not yet arrested despite having their images and videos because “they were their (BJP’s) own people”.Kejriwal accused the BJP of doing dirty politics and said: “The country will not tolerate BJP’s dirty politics. Now the youth and the students are against BJP. Parents are worried about their children.”“I am not just the chief minister of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) but of entire Delhi, similarly Kiren Rijiju is the minister of state for home for the entire country, so we are part of the system. It is the responsibility of every person in the system to protect Gurmehar and punish the culprits,” Kejriwal added.Meanwhile, the ABVP yesterday accused “outsiders” of vandalism and anti-national propaganda on the Delhi University (DU) campus and questioned the silence of the university’s vice chancellor over the issue.“It was outsiders who disturbed the atmosphere of Delhi University campus,” DU student union (DUSU) general secretary Ankit Sangwan of the ABVP said at a press conference here.Demanding strict action against the “anti-national programme”, the ABVP leader asked why was the Delhi University vice chancellor silent over the whole issue.The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s students wing, ABVP, said that some miscreants were trying to create nuisance on the university campus through violence and by raising anti-national slogans.