BJP workers protest outside Arvind Kejriwal's home.
A large number of BJP workers gathered outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's home today and protested against his remark on party leader Manoj Tiwari, a day after Mr Kejriwal said that the Bihar-born MP would be among the first required to leave the city if an Assam-like National Register of Citizens were to be carried out in the national capital.
Several members of the BJP's Purvanchal Morcha were detained amid massive protests, news agency ANI reported. Visuals showed party workers climbing on police barricades as cops resorted to the use of water cannons to disperse them.
Mr Tiwari, who has frequently called for a verification drive like the one in Assam that excluded 19 million people, had repeated the demand after a journalist was assaulted in a South Delhi neighbourhood on Sunday evening in an attack he attributed to "infiltrators".
When asked by reporters for his reaction to Mr Tiwari's demand, Mr Kejriwal said: "If NRC (National Register of Citizens) is implemented in Delhi then Manoj Tiwari will be the first one who will have to leave Delhi."
The comment has drawn strong reactions from the BJP. In a video statement, which he posted on Twitter on Wednesday, BJP leader Kapil Mishra is seen sitting in the front seat of a car wearing his seat belt as he blasts the Delhi Chief Minister's remark as "embarrassing".
"Chief Minister Kejriwal's NRC comment is pointless," he says in Hindi, "He says if there is NRC in Delhi then people from Bihar and UP will have to leave. This is shameful. Some people don't understand that the 'N' in NRC is for 'National'".
Mr Misra, who had quit Mr Kejriwal's AAP to join the BJP, has also filed a police complaint against the Delhi Chief Minister for "hurting the sentiments of the Poorvanchali community".
Congress leader Alka Lamba, who had also quit the AAP recently, also attacked Mr Kejriwal. "If Manoj Tiwari should leave the national capital according to Arvind Kejriwal, then he should also do the same. If that happens, only people like you and me will be left in Delhi.... who were born here, grew up here and struggled in this city.... not the like the ones who came from outside for a power struggle," she was quoted as saying by ANI.
(With inputs from news agency ANI)