Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia became the victim of an ink attack on Monday afternoon. The incident took place in front of the residence of lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung, whom he had gone to meet. The man who threw ink on Sisodia on Monday claimed he had done so because of the Deputy Chief Minister’s Finland trip. Identified as one Brajesh Shukla, he said while being handed over to police, “He is going abroad on our money, and people of Delhi are suffering. He had no political affiliation and did it to show his anger over absence of AAP Ministers”
According to eye witnesses, when Sisodia was about to get into his car after talking to media persons, Brijesh Shukla, 35, threw ink on Sisodia which splattered across his arms and on a portion of his forehead. Shukla, a resident of Northeast Delhi’s Mustafabad constituency, self-proclaimed founder of one Swaraj Janta Party has been detained by police. The attacker had contested as independent candidate from Mustafabad in 2013. He is originally from Varanasi.
Sisodia, who is facing criticism for his tour at a time Delhi is struggling with a spurt in dengue and chikungunya cases, was responding to questions on his meeting with the l-G when he was attacked. Sisodia said the ink attack on him was reflection of the “dirty politics of the Congress and the BJP”.
Reacting to the attack, Sisodia said, “The Delhi Government is committed to working on health and education. But the Congress and the BJP are working on ink. They have nothing to do with Delhiites. Their aim is to stop our initiatives. This is the dirty politics of the BJP and the Congress.” He also challenged the BJP-ruled civic bodies to clear the “filth across the city” and hit out at the Congress for “ruining” the city’s education and health sector during its term. “This is merely a diversionary tactic adopted by them since we are focusing on development,” he said.
He told reporters that he had shared with the l-G, during a half-hour meeting, how great was the education system in that country. Mid-comment, he was startled by a splatter of ink that also fell on some reporters. He was seen dabbing at the stains on his shirt and arms ineffectively with a white handkerchief. “The AAP is committed to working for people in health and education. Congress is only working on ink....They are throwing ink on me...This is the dirty politics of the Congress and the BJP,” he spluttered before getting into his car.
Sisodia returned last night from his Finland tour, which became controversial after social media posts of his trip - including one of him having ice-cream on the roadside - led to a “summons” from the l-G. Sisodia’s first stop on Monday was at Kejriwal’s home.
On his meeting with the l-G, Sisodia took a jibe at Jung, saying he could have called him instead of writing a letter “if there was an emergency”.
“I met the l-G and told him about the education system in Finland. I told him that we can also do well in education and health in Delhi and no compromise should be accepted on these areas,” he said.
However, this is not the first time an AAP leader has been attacked with ink. Kejriwal has been at the receiving end of several such incidents, the latest of which took place at a stadium in Delhi in January this year while he was addressing a gathering on the success of odd-even road rationing scheme.
In 2014, Yogendra Yadav’s face was smeared with black ink at an AAP rally. He quit the party in 2015.