Shaken by the major embarrassment it faced on Wednesday with its Swachchh Bharat Abhiyaan goof-up at the Indian Islamic Centre (IIC), the Delhi BJP has now decided to refrain from attending any “private functions” to propagate the cleanliness drive until the elections are over.
Party insiders said that the leadership will now extensively organise its own drives and participate only in events organised by three BJP-led municipal corporations. Meanwhile, distancing herself from the ‘shameful’ incident, former AAP leader Shazia Ilmi on Friday said that she “regretted” attending the function. BJP also faced the irked public on social media as #CheatingCleanIndia remained the most trending hashtag on Twitter throughout Friday.
Facing all-round attack, the Delhi BJP is in full damage control mode. Insiders said all MPs, MlAs, councillors and district level workers have been directed to be extra cautious and avoid attending any private or special events relating to the cleanliness drive. “After the incident, the top leadership has decided to avoid any event other than those of the MCDs. We will go solo, and extensively organise these drives while inviting prominent personalities. We faced the flak because of someone else’s fault. It was totally the organiser’s fault,” said a senior leader.
After being confronted with scathing criticism from political circles over the incident, former Aam Aadmi Party leader Shazia Ilmi took to microblogging website Twitter to distance herself from the controversy.
“I regret accepting that invitation, That’s that! Swachchh Bharat is a great mission and one should not allow rotten apples to spoil a good mission,” Ilmi tweeted on Friday. She, who has been cosying up to BJP after quitting AAP, had on Thursday also said she was not aware that garbage was purposefully dumped in the area.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cleanliness campaign received a major blot on Wednesday when Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay, Ilmi and a few other leaders were spotted clearing garbage that was purposefully dumped for a photo opportunity. Upadhyay on his part said he was invited by India Islamic Centre for the event and that he was not aware about garbage being dumped deliberately.