A war of words triggered between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday after a legislator from the saffron party termed Supreme Court orders related to firecrackers “laughable”.
The AAP demanded the initiation of contempt proceedings against BJP MLA from Adarsh Nagar Om Prakash Sharma and BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor whom the AAP also accused of “provoking” citizens to defy the apex court’ s directions in this regard.
On October 23, the SC ordered that citizens could burst firecrackers from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Diwali and other festivals. It had allowed the manufacture and sale of just “green crackers” that have a low light and sound emission. On his part, Mr. Sharma maintained he merely “disagreed” with the verdict — which he had a fundamental right to do — and his remarks were being misinterpreted as contempt. “What, I want to know in all seriousness is a ‘green firecracker’? Where can one procure this? Is it not laughable that the court issued direction to use an object which does not even exist now and will, if it happens even then, will only come into existence some years later?” Mr. Sharma told The Hindu. “I am not in contempt of the Supreme Court but in disagreement with its verdict. By the logic that the AAP, which suffers from a perverse and extremist Maoist ideology when it comes to matters related to the Hindu faith, all appeals made against court verdicts in this country are illegal,” he added. AAP leader Raghav Chadha, said: “We urge the SC to take suo moto cognisance of Mr. Sharma’s contempt of court and send him behind the bars.” The party also demanded that law enforcement agencies take action against Mr. Kapoor who had, on Thursday morning, tweeted: “I also burst crackers Wednesday night — except matters related to faith, I obey law in all matters[sic].”
Anti-social elements
“It is shocking and beyond any reasonable understanding that the BJP is casting aspersions on the SC, whose judgements are law of the land and binding on each and every citizen of the country. This party has unleashed anti-social elements on the highest court of the country,” said AAP’s Atishi.