Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Yogendra Yadav’s face was smeared with black ink by a former party volunteer at an event to mark Women’s Day at Jantar Mantar here.
The attacker, Sagar Bhandari, sporting an Aam Aadmi Party cap and badge, came on the dais from behind and smeared ink on Yadav’s face, who was addressing the media at the event. Bhandari was thrashed by Aam Aadmi Party volunteers and the police later took him to Parliament Street Police Station.
Bhandari, who used to work with the Aam Aadmi Party , claimed that he attacked Yadav for he was unhappy with party leader Arvind Kejriwal.
Madhur Verma, Additional DCP, New Delhi, said the accused is undergoing treatment at the hospital, since he was roughed up by party workers. He said Yadav has given in writing that he did not want to pursue any case against Bhandari.
Coming out of the Parliament Police Station, Yadav said: “While I was talking to media persons, this person came from behind and smeared ink on my face. I did not see him. After enquiring we found that he was reportedly a member of the AAP till the Delhi Assembly election, like other volunteers.”
Yadav said the party should expect such incidents, since it is the beginning of change in India, with a small party taking on years of corruption and decay.
“When you take on powerful forces in this country, one must be ready to pay a price. I came to the police station to meet this man and wanted to know why he did so, but learnt that he is in hospital. May God forgive this misguided person,” he said.
Political parties unanimously condemned the incident, saying it was wrong and in very bad taste.
In Ahmedabad, Kejriwal was stopped by the Gujarat Police for violation of the model code of conduct and was allowed to proceed after he agreed to reduce the number of cars in his motorcade.
He later attacked BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at a rally held in Ahmedabad over his “false claims of development” in the state.
That party also asked the BJP to announce the seat from where Modi would be contesting the Lok Sabha elections and sought to know if he was ‘scared’ to take on their leader Kejriwal.
“If the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate is not afraid of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, let him be clear from where he plans to contest the election against our leader,” said the party’s national spokesperson Sanjay Singh.