New Delhi [India], December 26 : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party after an FIR was registered against party leaders Saurabh Bhardwaj, Sanjeev Jha, and Adil Ahmed Khan on charges of hurting religious sentiments.
Following this, the Delhi AAP chief Saurabh Bharadwaj accused the BJP-led central government of "suppressing" them and said they are "not afraid of their cowardly tactics".
Speaking to ANI, Bharadwaj said, "Ever since we exposed the BJP, the BJP-led central government has been trying to suppress us, but we are not afraid of their cowardly tactics. They thought they could manipulate the AQI data. They would spray water day and night, shut down the AQI monitors, bring the data down, and fool the people of Delhi. But we, through our various creative methods, including the Santa Claus skit, showed the truth about Delhi, which has infuriated the BJP."
"Now, a BJP worker is saying that her feelings have been hurt. Weren't her feelings hurt when a women wearing Santa Claus hats was verbally abused, intimidated, threatened, and chased away in Lajpat Nagar - she didn't complain then. In Chhattisgarh, there was open violence. In Odisha, poor people are being intimidated and threatened for distributing and selling Santa Claus hats. Nothing was done about that either. They are trying to suppress us, but we are not afraid of their cowardly tactics. We will expose them even more," he added.
AAP leader Adil Ahmed Khan asserted that they will continue to fight for the people of Delhi
He said, "The person who filed the complaint is a BJP worker. I want to ask him why her feelings weren't hurt when, a short distance from here, in Lajpat Nagar, people supported by the BJP were misbehaving and assaulting with Santa Claus. Why doesn't she speak up about the way the Christian community is being mistreated outside churches in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP government is in power? Why doesn't she speak up about the hooliganism perpetrated by BJP supporters outside churches in Chhattisgarh, where the BJP government is also in power? When we are fighting for the right to breathe for the people of Delhi, they feel so much pain. I think this is utterly shameful."
"Today, the Aam Aadmi Party is fighting for the right to breathe for the people of Delhi. I also want to ask the police officers who filed the FIR whether their children don't live in Delhi. Don't their children have difficulty breathing? We are not afraid of your FIRs. We will continue to fight for the right to breathe for the people of Delhi. The BJP can file as many FIRs as it wants. Don't try to scare us," Khan asserted.
AAP leader Sanjeev Jha emphasised that the BJP's complaint was more about political sentiment than religious feelings.
"I have just received information that a member of the BJP has filed a complaint, claiming that the religious sentiments have been hurt. This is because we made a video showing that when people come to Delhi, they are affected by the pollution. I think this isn't about religious sentiments; it's about their political sentiments, because if they had such deep religious feelings, then why didn't they react when the government issued an order that children shouldn't be dressed as Santa Claus in schools? If their sentiments were truly hurt, they should have reacted to the daily mischief happening in parks where Christmas is celebrated. There's a video circulating from Raipur where BJP workers and supporters went to a mall and broke Santa Claus and raised slogans," Jha stated.
The Delhi Police on Thursday registered an FIR against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Saurabh Bhardwaj, Sanjeev Jha, and Adil Ahmed Khan for hurting religious sentiments.
On December 17 and 18, these AAP leaders posted a video of a skit, which highlighted the air pollution crisis in Delhi. The video later ignited a political firestorm, with AAP leaders accusing the BJP of hypocrisy and suppressing the truth about Delhi's air quality.
According to the complaint, these leaders posted a video on their official social media accounts related to a "political skit performed in public at Connaught Place. In these videos, individuals dressed as Santa Claus, a revered religious and cultural icon for Christians worldwide, are portrayed in a derogatory and mocking manner. The videos depict these religious icons 'fainting' and 'collapsing' on the street to be used as mere props for political messaging."