New Delhi: The manner in which Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson and MLA Raghav Chadha linked the murder of a Bharatiya Janata Party activist in Mangolpuri to raising ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans, despite the North West Delhi Police having completely ruled out any communal link, has raised doubts once again about AAP’s ‘soft Hindutva’ politics.
Rinku Sharma was allegedly stabbed by a group of people at a birthday party on February 10 night. He succumbed to his injuries during treatment and five people, all belonging to a minority community, were later arrested in connection with the crime. The case was later transferred to the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police.
Soon after the attack, which was captured on CCTV cameras and also recorded over mobile phones, the visuals went viral. Since Sharma was a BJP activist, the party and its workers tried to give the incident a communal colour. The victim’s brother, Mannu, claimed that he was killed because he was active in the donation drive for the Ram temple in Ayodhya. But this claim and the communal angle was rubbished by the local police.
The police has said the case was not communal in nature. A Delhi police spokesperson went on record to state that “all persons are known to each other and live in the same locality. Any other motive alluded to this incident is factually wrong. So far, during the investigation, it has surfaced that the quarrel started during a birthday party over shutting down of a restaurant.”
However, several BJP leaders and other people used the opportunity to attack the Arvind Kejriwal government on Twitter and other social media platforms. Questions were raised about why the chief minister had not visited the Sharma residence when he was among the first to go to the residence of Mohammad Akhlaq, who was lynched by a Hindu mob in Dadri. Some also asked if the AAP and its leaders only raised their voices for the minorities.
In the meantime, BJP leader Kapil Mishra began collecting money for Sharma’s family. He declared that he would raise Rs 1 crore for the family – precisely the sum Kejriwal had paid Akhlaq’s family – and at the last count the collections had crossed Rs 80 lakh.
But while Kejriwal refused to get drawn into the controversy and remained silent even after Sharma’s family alleged that he had refused to meet them, Chadha broke the party’s silence on the issue. Addressing a press conference, he asked, “Is raising the Jai Shri Ram slogans not safe now?”
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His arguments appeared out of place after the Delhi police had itself stated that there was no communal angle to the crime. In his detailed statement, Chadha was quoted as saying: “The family of Rinku Sharma is saying that he was killed because of raising Jai Shri Ram slogans. It should be thoroughly investigated and the culprits should be punished. Is raising the Jai Shri Ram slogans not safe now? In BJP’s rule, Hindus are not safe.”
He went on to blame the BJP for the situation: “BJP holds the responsibility for law and order in Delhi, all seven MPs belong to them, home ministry belongs to BJP. Is it the result this government is made for?”
Chadha also had a question for the Centre and to counter the allegations against Kejriwal. “I ask the Union home minister, why has he not visited Rinku Sharma’s family? Law and order is under him. Does it suit him to campaign in Bengal while such an incident occurred in Delhi? Why did the police commissioner not visit Sharma’s family?”
But many have viewed Chadha’s statement as an attempt by AAP to use the BJP’s tactics, especially in light of the right-wing’s relentless attack on the Delhi government.
Over the past year, several of AAP’s actions have sent out the message that it has adopted a soft Hindutva stance. During the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act at Shaheen Bagh, the party’s Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan had supported the campaign, but Kejriwal had openly decried the protest. Before that in August 2019, Kejriwal had also supported the reading down of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, saying he hoped the move “will bring peace and development”.
When it came to the violence in North-East Delhi, AAP dropped its councillor Tahir Hussain as soon as his name was brought up in connection with the murder of an Intelligence Bureau staffer. The party did not change its stance even when questions were asked of the extent of Hussain’s involvement.
The party was also accused of not coming to the aid of numerous Muslim youth who were arrested in connection with the North-East Delhi riots. Former Delhi Minorities Commission chairperson Zafarul Islam Khan had also accused AAP of not presenting the panel’s fact-finding report on the Delhi riots before the assembly.
On the other hand, during Diwali, the AAP government spent Rs 6 crore on a Laxmi Puja event at Akshardham Temple and its television coverage. This mega event witnessed the participation of Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues along with their spouses.
After details of this spend were revealed, RTI activist Saket Gokhale had tweeted that the 30-minute puja had cost Rs 20 lakhs per minute.
Delhi Congress president Anil Chaudhary was quick to ask why this money was not spent on clearing the salaries of doctors, nurses and health workers who were at the forefront of battling COVID-19 but had not been paid their wages.