Two days after the violence between two communities at Jahangirpuri in Delhi, a political blame game has erupted between the Aam Admi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party with both of them accusing each other of having links with the accused. The police have identified Ansar and Alam as the main accused in the violence and taken them to custody.
On Tuesday, the AAP claimed Ansar is a BJP leader and released multiple photographs that apparently showed him with leaders of the saffron party.
“Mastermind of Jahangirpuri Violence - Ansar - is a BJP Leader!,” the party said in a tweet. “It is now amply clear - BJP orchestrated Riots Delhi on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti!,” it said.
AAP leader Atishi tweeted: "The main accused in the Jahangirpuri riots - Ansar - is a BJP leader. He played a major role in getting BJP's candidate Sangeeta Bajaj to contest and plays an active role in BJP. It is clear that the BJP got the riots done. BJP should apologize to Delhiites. BJP is a party of goons.”
On Monday, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor had claimed that Ansar is an AAP worker and wanted a clarification from the party over his involvement in the clashes.
"Delhiites want a reply from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership over the involvement of the youth, apparently an AAP worker, in the Jahangirpuri riots. Earlier too, we saw AAP councilor Tahir Hussain as the main accused of 2020 Delhi riots," Kapoor said in a letter to AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal.
Earlier, Manoj Tiwari, BJP MP from northeast Delhi that was rocked by communal violence in 2020, said: "The mastermind of the attack in Jahangirpuri -- Md Ansar -- has been found to be a worker of AAP. There are evidences of this in the form of photographs. Tahir Hussain who was the mastermind of the Delhi riots in 2020 was also an AAP councilor. Is AAP running a riots factory?"
Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta had on Sunday alleged that Ansar was an AAP activist and had relations with party MLAs. He had also claimed that the violence in Jahangirpuri was the result of the AAP government aiding illegal stay of Rohingya and Bangladeshi immigrants.
Police have already arrested 23 people, including two juveniles, in connection with the violence and enhanced security in the region. Over 500 police personnel and six companies of additional force have been deployed in the area round the clock. Besides, a total of 80 tear gas gun parties and water cannons have been deployed and drones are also being used in sensitive areas for rooftop surveillance, police said.
Clashes broke out between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in Jahangirpuri on Saturday, in which eight police personnel and a local resident were injured.
