A man on Saturday evening assaulted Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal during his roadshow in the national capital.
The incident took place in the Moti Nagar area at around 6 pm. The man has been identified as Suresh. He has been taken in the custody of the Delhi police for questioning. Suresh is said to have a shop of spare parts.
CM Kejriwal was in an open jeep when the man climbed on the bonnet of the vehicle and slapped him. The man could be heard hurling abuses at the chief minister.
#WATCH: A man slaps Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during his roadshow in Moti Nagar area. (Note: Abusive language) pic.twitter.com/laDndqOSL4
— ANI (@ANI) May 4, 2019
Kejriwal was shaking hands with his supporters and waving at the gathering when a man wearing a maroon shirt climbed on to the vehicle to slap him. The CM's supporters immediately pulled him down and thrashed him.
The Delhi CM was campaigning for party candidate, Balbir Singh Jakhar, in west Delhi.
Reacting to the incident, the AAP called it another negligence in the security of the chief minister and condemned the "cowardly act". Taking to Twitter, the party said, "opposition sponsored attack cannot stop the Aam Aadmi in Delhi".
Another negligence in the security of CM @ArvindKejriwal.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal got attacked during the roadshow. We condemned this cowardly act. This opposition sponsored attack cannot stop the Aam Aadmi in Delhi.
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) May 4, 2019
Former AAP leader Kapil Mishra tweeted, "Saari Delhi ko pata tha Kejriwal khud ko pitwayega. Roadshow flop, janta ghayab, nautanki shuru. Janta Kejriwal ko EVM ka button daba kar peetegi-ungli ki takat se. Tab tak khud ko khud peetwaate rahenge Kejriwal. (Entire Delhi knew Kejriwal would plot an attack against himself. Roadshow flopped, public disappeared, gimmicks started. The public will defeat Kejriwal by using the EVM button, they will beat him using their fingers. Till then he himself will plot his assault)."
सारी दिल्ली को पता था केजरीवाल खुद को पिटवाएँगे
रोड शो फ्लॉप, जनता गायब, नौटंकी शुरू
जनता केजरीवाल को ईवीएम का बटन दबा कर पीटेगी - उंगली की ताकत से
तब तक खुद को खुद पिटवाते रहेंगे केजरीवाल
— Chowkidar Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) May 4, 2019
Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia also tweeted asking if PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah want to murder Kejriwal. "Kya Modi aur Amit Shah ab Kejriwal ka hatya karwana chahte hai? Panch saal saari takat lagakar jiska manobal nahi todd saake, chunao mein nahi hara saake..ab use raaste se is tarah hatana chahte ho kayaro! Yeh Kejriwal hi tumhara kaal hai. (Does Modi and Amit Shah want to murder Kejriwal? For five years they couldn't break his morale or defeat him in the election and now this is how you want to remove him from your path, cowards! This Kejriwal will be your fate)."
क्या मोदी और अमित शाह अब केजरीवाल की हत्या करवाना चाहते हैं?
5 साल सारी ताक़त लगाकर जिसका मनोबल नहीं तोड़ सके, चुनाव में नहीं हरा सके..अब उसे रास्ते से इस तरह हटाना चाहते हो कायरो!ये केजरीवाल ही तुम्हारा काल है.
— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) May 4, 2019
This is not the first time that the Aam Aadmi Party convener has been assaulted. Kejriwal was also slapped while campaigning for Delhi assembly elections in 2015 and again during the same year when an autorickshaw driver slapped him during a roadshow in Delhi. He was targetted with ink during a press conference earlier. In 2017, a shoe was also hurled at him in Rohtak, Haryana.
