New Delhi, April 20 (PTI): Razing the residence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP headquarters using bulldozers will free the country from communal violence and riots forever, the AAP said on Wednesday, slamming the saffron party for the demolition of several structures in Delhi's Jahangirpuri.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led party alleged that it was the BJP that had engineered clashes between two communities in Jahangirpuri during a Hanuman Jayanti procession last week as well as other such incidents of violence in various parts of the country during Ram Navami.
With the sole motive of triggering communal violence and riots, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got Rohingyas and Bangladeshis "illegally" settled in different parts of the country in the last eight years, the AAP alleged.
Similarly, BJP leaders and officials of the saffron party-ruled civic bodies in Delhi got Rohingyas and Bangladeshis "illegally" settled in the national capital over the last 15 years, it alleged and demanded that the houses of these leaders and officials should also be demolished using bulldozers.
"The BJP is saying violence, riots and hooliganism will stop by running bulldozers and removing encroachments. But actually, the BJP itself is engineering hooliganism, violence and riots not just in Delhi, but across the country," Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi said in a video message.
She alleged that Shah and the BJP were behind all the recent incidents of communal violence in various parts of the country during Hanuman Jayanti and Ram Navami celebrations.
"Bulldozers should be run on the BJP headquarters and on the residence of Amit Shah. After this, riots will not take place in the country," the Kalkaji MLA said.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged that the BJP has been engineering violence as it has not done anything worth talking about in education, healthcare and other sectors.
"The BJP has created an atmosphere of anarchy in the country. You will get to know where the next riot will take place if the BJP gives a list of the areas where it has got Rohingyas and Bangladeshis settled illegally," he told reporters.
The remarks of the AAP leaders came after bulldozers razed several structures in Jahangirpuri during an anti-encroachment drive conducted by the BJP-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) amid a heavy deployment of paramilitary and police personnel until the authorities received "a written order" from the Supreme Court to stop it.
The apex court stayed the anti-encroachment drive and also agreed to hear a petition challenging the civic body's action allegedly aimed against those involved in Saturday's communal clashes in the area.
The anti-encroachment drive, however, continued for an hour and a half in the area in northwest Delhi even after the court directed the authorities to stop it.
A civic official, requesting anonymity, said the drive continued due to the absence of a written order from the Supreme Court and it was stopped as soon as the order was received.
Lashing out at the saffron party over the anti-encroachment drive, AAP's chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said, "The BJP government at the Centre got Rohingyas and Bangladeshis illegally settled in different parts of the country in the last eight years. The state governments could not have done it as only the Centre can bring them inside the country."
He said the BJP should disclose where all it got Rohingyas and Bangladeshis settled illegally.
"We believe that the BJP has got them settled at various places with the sole motive of engineering riots, using them," the AAP MLA added.
Earlier, AAP leader Amanatullah Khan alleged that the NDMC had scheduled the anti-encroachment drive in Jahangirpuri as Shah and the BJP want to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of Delhi.
In a video message on Twitter, the Okhla MLA said the demolition of houses belonging to members of "a particular community" only to "harass" them during the holy month of Ramzan on the pretext of an anti-encroachment drive will further spoil the atmosphere in the area.
He appealed to the Union home minister and BJP leaders to refrain from resorting to such a move.
"Such cheap politics will ruin the country if not stopped in time," Khan, who is also the Delhi Waqf Board chairman, said.
Jahangirpuri witnessed violent clashes, including stone pelting, arson and firing, between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession on Saturday. Eight police personnel and a local resident were injured in the clashes.
"The atmosphere in the country has already been vitiated and efforts are being made to make it worse. Amit Shah and the BJP want to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of Delhi," Khan said.
"Just four days ago, there was a riot in Jahangirpuri. An order has now been issued to run bulldozers on houses in the area and harass the members of a particular community in the name of an anti-encroachment drive," he added.
Questioning the timing of the move and the BJP-led Centre's intention behind it, Khan said the civic body could have taken up the anti-encroachment drive later, "if it is legal".
"It is the holy month of Ramzan. What is your compulsion that you are going to demolish the houses of people, as you did in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, in the name of launching an anti-encroachment drive in an area hit by rioting just four days ago and when the tempers are yet to cool down?
"This is not right. I appeal to Amit Shah and all the BJP leaders to refrain from resorting to such actions and vitiating the atmosphere of Delhi," Khan said.