The BJP and the AAP have been engaged in a war of words
Scenes of uproar were witnessed in the BJP-led EDMC House on Wednesday as several members of the ruling party and AAP councillors faced off during the proceedings over an alleged offensive comment made recently against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in context of the issues surrounding the film 'The Kashmir Files'.
Many councillors of both the parties "manhandled" each other, accusing each other of "violating" the code of conduct and the sanctity of the House.
Proceedings of the House began by condoling the death of nonagenarian Ishwari Das Mahajan, a veteran politician and a former chairman of the standing committee in the 1970s when it was a unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Now, there are three corporations for South, North and East Delhi. "No sooner had the tribute been paid to him, members of the AAP started raising their voice and misbehaving with BJP members, including Leader of the House, Satyapal Singh, and other party councillors," East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) Standing Committee Chairman Beer Singh Panwar alleged.
The AAP councillors were alleging that Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta had recently said something wrong about Kejriwal in the context of the issues surrounding the film 'The Kashmir Files' and the Kashmiri Pandit community, he claimed.
But Gupta was "only citing what others had said about him (Kejriwal) and those were not his words", Panwar said.
As AAP members resorted to manhandling, "our councillors also responded in defence," he said.
AAP councillor and Leader of Opposition Manoj Kumar Tyagi alleged that BJP members resorted to use of "physical force" and "used unparliamentary language" and "manhandled many AAP members, including women".
"They (BJP) are saying that Adesh ji is not saying that comment, rather he is quoting words of other people. Is this how a Delhi BJP chief should behave, and if he is quoting someone, can he tell who said it exactly, or will he make such baseless claims," he said.
Tyagi said the alleged offensive comment was made against the chief minister on the stand taken by him on the controversial film 'The Kashmir File' which talks about the struggles of the Kashmiri Pandit community.
The BJP and the AAP have been engaged in a war of words over this movie, with Kejriwal recently attacking the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Delhi assembly over the issue.
BJP leaders and workers have been attacking Kejriwal and accusing him of "mocking" the pain of Kashmiri Pandits and terming the movie based on their "genocide" in Kashmir a lie.
The commotion in the EDMC House lasted for around an hour after which about three to four councillors were "marshalled out", including Tyagi, Panwar said.
Panwar said a private member resolution was passed during the House proceedings on Wednesday, seeking "an apology from CM Arvind Kejriwal" for his "disrespectful" comments against the Kashmiri Pandit community. Tyagi charged that the "ruling BJP (at the Centre) has become undemocratic and dictatorial", and it is "already scared of losing the civic polls" in Delhi so they "got it (the elections) delayed".
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)