A man threw water on former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal during a padyatra in the national capital today. Visuals of the attack show security personnel and Mr Kejriwal’s supporters catching the man and thrashing him, with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief assessing what had just happened.
Police sources said the incident happened while Mr Kejriwal was walking with supporters in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar neighbourhood.
The man has been identified as Ashok Jha, they said, adding he has been detained and is being questioned.
Mr Kejriwal, reacting to the attack on him, urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah, to whom the Delhi Police reports, to stop crime in the national capital.
Delhi Chief Minister Atishi in a post on X claimed Mr Jha was a BJP member.
The man who attacked Arvind Kejriwal today is a BJP goon. #KejriwalAttackedByBJP pic.twitter.com/1PxWvIcvuo
— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) November 30, 2024
AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged the BJP was behind the attack.
“Law and order have collapsed in Delhi and the central government and the Home Minister are not doing anything,” Mr Bharadwaj told news agency ANI.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said Mr Kejriwal has gone back to doing his “old trick” with an eye on the Delhi assembly election which is due early next year.
“Arvind Kejriwal’s every political strategy has failed. Now he will return to using his old tricks, in which he is slapped and ink is thrown at him. A similar thing happened today. Arvind Kejriwal should tell himself what new game he started today,” Mr Kapoor said.
“We request the Delhi Police to question the suspect and find the truth. The BJP has never taken the path of threats or violence in political campaigns,” he added.
The AAP in a post on its X handle questioned what it alleged was “deteriorating law and order situation in Delhi”.
#WATCH | A person tried to throw a liquid on former Delhi CM and AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal during his padyatra in Delhi’s Greater Kailash area.
The person was later held by his security staff. pic.twitter.com/9c9MhzLEzj
— ANI (@ANI) November 30, 2024
“… If a former chief minister is not safe in the country’s capital, then what will happen to the common man? Delhi’s law and order situation has completely collapsed under (central) BJP rule,” the AAP said in the post in Hindi.