NEW DELHI: The BJP made tall promises to the family of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma who lost his life during the riots here last year, but it did nothing, the AAP claimed on Saturday, a day after the Delhi government announced that a job will be provided to his brother.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor, however, said the BJP stood by the families of all those killed in the Delhi riots, including Sharma, when they needed them the most immediately after tragedy struck them.
The Delhi Cabinet had on Friday passed a proposal to provide a job to Sharma's brother.
The proposal will be sent to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal for final approval, it had said.
The riots had erupted in northeast Delhi on February 24 last year after clashes between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured.
Sharma was found dead in a drain near his home in the riot-hit Chand Bagh area.
The Aam Aadmi Party government has not only given a compensation of Rs 1 crore to Ankit Sharma's family, but has also offered a job to his brother, party spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said at a press conference.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on March 2 last year had announced an honorarium of Rs 1 crore for Sharma's family.
"Whenever there is a murder, the BJP gives it a communal colour and incites hatred among people, but does nothing to help anyone," he alleged.
"The AAP wants to know what the BJP and the central government have done for late Ankit Sharma and his family in the last one year," Bhardwaj said.
The BJP had made "tall promises" to the family of the IB officer, who was killed during the riots, but it did nothing, he claimed.
The AAP demands that the BJP immediately disclose what exactly it has done for the family, Bhardwaj said.
He also said the "Arvind Kejriwal government has given a sum of Rs 26 crores to compensate 2,221 citizens who suffered huge losses during the northeast Delhi riots".
In response to this, the Delhi BJP said it has stood by Sharma's family.
"We as a political party extended emotional support as we could to all bereaved families including that of Ankit Sharma at a time when the AAP was standing with its Councilor Tahir Hussain, the killer of Ankit Sharma.
"Our sister organisations of Sangh Parivar extended material support to all families," Kapoor said in a statement.
He said the Kejriwal government has not done any special deal by providing compensation to Ankit Sharma's family.
As per the law, its the mandatory duty of the state government to provide a compensatory package to riot victims' families and that is what they have done, he said.
"People of the city and the Delhi BJP wish to know when would AAP expel councilor Tahir Hussain from the party.
People of Delhi know it well that the AAP is standing with the killer of Ankit Sharma and this compensation package is a political cover up with exchequer money," he said.