NEW DELHI: THE Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday gave caste angle to their councillor Vikas Goel being allegedly thrashed by BJP corporator Surender Kharb at a North MCD meeting in Town Hall on Monday.
Rajya Sabha member of AAP, Sushil Gupta, said in a press conference on Tuesday that “after Muslims and Poorvanchalis, BJP is now specifically targeting the Baniya/Agarwal trading community in Delhi. Vikas Goel, being a member of that caste, was thrashed as part of a planned conspiracy.”
“First they brought demonetisation in 2016, which badly hurt our interests. Then they brought the complex and unfair Goods and Services Tax (GST), which our Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal even protested against at that time,” said Gupta.
“In December 2017, when they had to renew the ‘Delhi Special Provisions Act,’ they omitted the word ‘commercial’ from a statement which said that ‘residential and commercial properties will be protected from sealing drive. They could have saved all the markets and shops from Supreme Court’s ruling but they brought us down to our knees,” Gupta said.
AAP leaders said they believe that BJP, after realising that the Baniya community will not vote for them now, did not give any tickets to Baniya candidates during the recent Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections.
In Rajasthan, they gave tickets to only three such persons. In Delhi, Gupta said, BJP tried to remove at least four lakh voters from the electoral list, including Baniya names, so that they are unable to cast votes, said AAP.
“The fact is they did not just hit me, they made an assault on the dignity of the (North MCD) House. It was an attack on democracy,” said Vikas Goel, who was a part of the press conference on Tuesday, and was allegedly thrashed by BJP corporator Surender Kharb.
Anil Lakra, leader of Opposition, said, “The entire incident is caught on camera, but the Delhi Police is unwilling to file an FIR on the basis of the complaint we filed against Kharb at Kotwali Police Station.”
“This is when our chief minister has been booked repeatedly without any proof.”he claimed.