Malerkotla incident politically motivated: Kejriwal

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, July 4

Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said the Malerkotla sacrilege incident in which one of his party MLAs had been named was politically motivated and being blown out of proportion by the SAD-BJP government with elections in the state around the corner.

The Delhi Chief Minister was addressing a gathering of Christians here.

Kejriwal said, “This is an election year in Punjab and the Badal government is going all out to defame me and my party. I have been told that the Sangrur police have specifically been told to implicate some members of my party in the desecration case. Had it not been for the elections, the Malerkotla incident would not have happened,” he said.

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He said that since June 24, when the incident took place, the police had been blaming the VHP but now suddenly they had trained their guns on the AAP. “Just a day before I was to start my three-day Punjab tour, the investigators suddenly started targeting my party colleagues. I have been told that this is being done allegedly at the behest of the ruling party. This shows that the SAD-BJP alliance fears my party, which is gaining in strength with each passing day. The Akalis have stooped so low that they had to take recourse to a religious scripture to defame me. The Badals are hitting below the belt,” Kejriwal alleged.

Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann and Gurpreet Ghuggi held the audience in splits with their witticisms.

Meanwhile, Tarun Chugh, national BJP general secretary, challenged Kejriwal to an open debate. “I have prepared a 16-point questionnaire. If Kejriwal is able to give satisfactory reply to even one of the questions, I would resign,” he said.   

Also, addressing a rally in Jalandhar, Kejriwal said he would form an SIT to look into atrocities on Dalits after the party assumed power in Punjab. He said he would rather die than allow reservation to end.

Meanwhile, activists of the Anjuman Islamia and Purvanchal Kranti Dal staged protests outside the rally venue of AAP in Jalandhar, demanding the arrest of Naresh Yadav. They also threatened a stir in Malerkotla if the MLA was not booked by Monday evening.

Yadav meets DGP, assures cooperation

AAP MLA Naresh Yadav, who has been booked and summoned in connection with the Malerkotla sacrilege incident, along with party members on Monday met the Punjab Police chief who assured them of a “fair and impartial” probe.

The AAP delegation, led by party’s Punjab in-charge Sanjay Singh, met Director General of Police (DGP) Suresh Arora at his office here after which Yadav said he was ready to join the probe.

“We have told the DGP that we came to Chandigarh as soon as we came to know about the case. We are ready to join the investigation,” Yadav told reporters after the meeting.

“We have clearly told the DGP that if they find any evidence against me regarding the sacrilege incident, they can hang me,” he said.

The Punjab Police chief assured the AAP delegation that a “free, fair and impartial” investigation would be carried out.

Yadav, AAP MLA from Mehrauli, had been booked in connection with the alleged sacrilege incident after one of the accused claimed that he had acted at the behest of the legislator.

Punjab Police have asked him to appear on July 5 for questioning.

With PTI and TNS