A day after clashes broke out between the workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party, there were no signs of a let-up in the strain between the two parties.
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BJP leader Arun Jaitley launched a pointed attack on the AAP leadership on Thursday, accusing the latter of using Joseph Goebbels’ tactics over Arvind Kejriwal's alleged detention in Gujarat. “If Joseph Goebbels was re-born, he surely would have joined the Aam Aadmi Party,” he said.
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In a statement here, Mr. Jaitely accused the AAP of politicising a routine exercise carried out during the enforcement of the model code of conduct. “Joseph Goebbels was the Minister for 'Public Enlightenment and Propaganda' in Hitler's Third Reich from 1933 to 1945. The post gave him total control of communication media-radio, press, publishing, cinema and other arts. He is historically remembered for his famous strategy, which is evident from his quote —'If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it'. What happened yesterday is no longer intriguing. It is a normal strategy of the votary of alternative politics in India,” he said.
Mr. Jaitley said the Gujarat administration was following the procedures laid down by the Election Commission. “We always accept that as part of the Election Commission's efforts to conduct free and fair elections. But Mr. Kejriwal makes his non-detention into a national crisis,” he said.
“Regrettably, even the likes of Rajmohan Gandhi offered themselves to become instruments of this false propaganda. The violent protest of the AAP was peaceful, he asserted. The victims were in fact violent. When its members are booked for violence and law breaking, they plead for equality on the premise that the victims should also be booked,” he added.
The AAP utilised the technique of manufacturing an issue, real or fictional, and then persisting with it.
Leaders questioned
PTI adds: AAP leaders Ashutosh and Shazia Ilmi, booked for rioting and damaging public property during clashes with BJP workers, have been brought for questioning by Delhi Police.
Ms. Ilmi, who was picked up by a team of women police personnel from her Greater Kailash residence, was brought to Parliament Street Police station for questioning, police said.
Journalist-turned politician Mr. Ashutosh, picked up from AAP’s Model Town office, is on his way to the Parliament Street police station.