A member of a right-wing organisation here on Friday created a ruckus at a press conference of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Prashant Bhushan in protest against his controversial statement on the Kashmir issue.
A member of RsDevpath’, an outfit headed by local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukesh Singh Rajawat, abused Bhushan at the press conference and snatched away the AAP cap the latter was wearing, while shouting “Kashmir belongs to us” and “Bhushan is a Pakistani agent”.
Earlier, Rajawat and some 50 of his supporters shouted slogans against Bhushan and waved black flags. AAP candidate from Indore Anil Trivedi escorted Bhushan out of the hotel and took him away.
The man who started the ruckus ran off, and was yet to be identified. Nobody has been arrested so far. AAP workers also staged a sit-in to protest the incident. Bhushan had faced violent protests earlier too after he allegedly advocated a referendum in Kashmir. Before leaving, Bhushan told reporters that “BJP has kept these goons for carrying out this kind of activities. It shows its fear and desperation, because for the first time it has been challenged by a group of honest persons”.
He also claimed that his statement on Kashmir was presented in a wrong manner. On one hand BJP leaders said that Kashmir is an inseparable part of India but when someone talked about Kashmiris, they termed him as Pakistani agent, he said.
Meanwhile, the AAP state unit condemned the incident and reported the case to the EC in Bhopal. AAP state secretary Akhsay Hunka later in a statement informed that this is the fourth attack on AAP leaders during the past one week. “During all the four occasions the police remained mute spectator showing that the administration and the government are hand in glove againt the AAP,” he added.