BJP engineered riots by provoking both communities: AAP

NEW DELHI:  The AAP on Tuesday alleged that the BJP engineered the northeast Delhi riots by instigating Hindus and provoking Muslims at the Shaheen Bagh protest, drawing a sharp rebuttal from the saffrom party.

The Delhi BJP said the AAP is on the ‘backfoot’ and is trying to change the narrative by alleging that the BJP instigated Hindus. But the actual story is something else, the party said.

Addressing a press conference, AAP spokesperson and MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj claimed that the BJP leaders provoked people of both the communities which led to the communal violence in northeast Delhi on February 24.

“Two days back when the key functionaries of the Shaheen Bagh protest joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, it exposed the fact that on one side, the leaders of the saffron party were spreading hatred among the Hindus and on the other, their other leaders were spreading hatred among the Muslim protesters of Shaheen Bagh. This way a script was prepared and the riots took place in Delhi,” Bharadwaj claimed.

Several members of Muslim community from Shaheen Bagh area, which was the centre of the anti-CAA protests, joined the BJP on Sunday.