Former Aam Aadmi Party Minister and Karawal Nagar MLA Kapil Mishra was roughed up in the Delhi Assembly on Wednesday by AAP MLAs after he accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Health Minister Satyendar Jain of corruption.
Mr. Mishra had been suspended from the AAP on May 8 after he alleged that Mr. Kejriwal and his associates had been involved in corruption. Though he attended the last session of the Assembly on May 9, Wednesday was the first direct public confrontation between Mr. Mishra and his former party colleagues.
Yells during session
About 20 minutes into the session, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was replying to a question about the shortage of medicines in government hospitals by Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta when Mr. Mishra stood up, unfurled a banner and started yelling. With accusation of a ₹300 crore scam in medicine procurement, Mr. Mishra with the banner held high began walking towards the well of the House, when AAP MLA Madan Lal intercepted him.
Meanwhile, since Speaker Ram Niwas Goel had already asked the marshals to escort Mr. Mishra out, by the time Mr. Lal and other AAP MLAs, including Amanatuallah Khan, Jarnail Singh and Jagdeep Singh, surrounded Mr. Mishra, the marshals had already picked him up.
Mr. Mishra claimed that he was beaten by the AAP MLAs in the commotion as he was carried out. He added that he saw Mr. Sisodia directing one of the MLAs to go towards him. “This was not just an attack on me, it was an attempt to silence all those who raise their voice against corruption,” he said.
Reacting to the incident, Mr. Goel termed it “unfortunate”, saying that the AAP MLAs should not left their benches to go towards Mr. Mishra. He also maintained that the waving of a banner in the House as Mr. Mishra did was not permitted.
‘Anti-democratic face’
Reacting to the incident, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said the treatment meted out to Mr. Mishra “fully exposed the anti-democratic face” of Mr. Kejriwal and his party.
“The incident clearly shows that Mr. Kejriwal and his party members are not open to any dissent or opposition. Similar incidents of manhandling have been witnessed in the Vidhan Sabha earlier too, be it with Mr. Gupta, O. P. Sharma or Ved Prakash, who resigned from the AAP,” Mr. Tiwari said.