In remarks clearly directed at the BJP, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday that he expected “real attacks” on his party after the Lok Sabha election.
Speaking at a book release function, Mr. Kejriwal said he and some of his associates have till now been subjected to “slaps, kicks and egg attacks” during the Lok Sabha election campaign.
“I feel nothing major will happen until the elections get over because otherwise these might boomerang,” he said.
“The real attacks will start after the election. They won’t spare us after the election,” he added.
Mr. Kejriwal did not name the BJP by name but the contents of his speech made it evident that he had the Bharatiya Janata Party in mind.
The former Delhi chief minister has been going hammer and tongs against BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi all over the country, and has decided to challenge Mr. Modi in the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.
In his speech, Mr. Kejriwal told the audience that he saw a video clip — the result of a sting operation — in which a BJP leader is heard saying that “our own people will have to die to take the movement forward”.
Mr. Kejriwal mistakenly referred to the person heard on the video as Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal, but soon corrected himself and said it was Sakshi Maharaj.
And then, in one pointed reference to the party, Mr. Kejriwal said the BJP had nothing against Muslims per se. “To come to power they will do anything.”
He added that the “forces” the AAP was ranged against were “very powerful” and these cannot be fought simply with money power.
“What is needed is the path of truth... This is what happened in the Delhi election too.
“People used to then remark that we had no money. I agreed. But I told everyone that we were on the path of truth. We need to stick to that.”
Mr. Kejriwal spoke after releasing the book —— a love story based on the days when the anti-corruption movement of Anna Hazare, from which the AAP was born, gripped Delhi.
The book has been authored by AAP members Dilip Pande and Chanchal Sharma.
