NEW DELHI: Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Atishi has alleged the BJP of weaponising the names of Sikh gurus for crude political gains while carrying a long record of hostility towards the Sikh community.
Calling the allegations against her a lie, the AAP leader said on Tuesday that the BJP had no moral authority to speak in respect for Sikh traditions.
During a media interaction, Atishi stated that the allegations made by the BJP against her are false. “For Sikh gurus, especially Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, my family and I have the utmost respect and reverence. I myself come from a family where, in every generation, the eldest son of the family goes to the gurdwara, becomes a Sikh, and dedicates himself to serving society,” she added.
She said that people must recall that BJP leader Kapil Mishra was in the habit of lying. She pointed out that Mishra had once alleged that he had seen Arvind Kejriwal take money. “Later, this very Kapil Mishra had to apologise before a court and admit that he lied,” she said.
Atishi emphasised that the same thing would happen again today. Talking about the court case and the FIR that has been registered in Jalandhar, and the directions given by the court against Mishra, she said, “This clearly shows that the insult to the gurus committed by Kapil Mishra was done for petty politics to divert attention and run away from a discussion on pollution.”
She added, “For such petty politics, he insulted the gurus, edited the video, inserted the names of the gurus, and did politics in their name. And remember, this is the same BJP that we saw during the farmers’ movement involving our Sikh brothers. The same Kapil Mishra used such abusive and derogatory language against farmers that we cannot even repeat that here.”
The leader of the opposition added that BJP leaders, like Kangana Ranaut, Nitin Patel, and Meenakshi Lekhi, left no stone unturned in calling the Sikh brothers Khalistanis.
City BJP president says LoP making false claim
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva has said that Atishi’s claim that she did not insult the Sikh gurus is false. He said that Speaker Vijender Gupta ordered a forensic examination of the original Assembly recording, and it has been established that she spoke of Sikh gurus in bad light. He added that till a forensic report came from Punjab govt, she did not call Mishra’s allegation false.