The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday slammed the BJP after its leader Suvendu Adhikari from West Bengal allegedly hurled a slur at an IPS officer who was discharging his duty in the state and demanded an apology over the matter.
Addressing a press conference here, senior AAP leader and Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said, “The way BJP leaders insulted the IPS officer deployed on duty in West Bengal by calling him Khalistani is condemnable. Today, people across the country who believe in the unity of this country, who believe that every citizen of this country, regardless of religion, caste, region, language, or state, cannot be insulted in this manner on any basis, are deeply hurt by this.”
Rai, who is also the party’s Delhi unit convenor, said, “BJP leaders publicly called that IPS officer Khalistani only because he was born into a Sikh family and wears a turban. This shows how deeply the ideology of hatred pervades BJP leaders from top to bottom.”
“For BJP leaders, anyone becomes a traitor, terrorist, Khalistani or Naxalite. BJP leaders have started crossing all boundaries of the Constitution. They are neither ready to respect India’s Constitution nor our culture, tradition, and history,” he said.
Asserting that the time has come to stop this campaign of hatred, otherwise, they will further divide the Indian society, the minister said, “We demand that BJP leaders publicly apologise for this incident. India will never tolerate such insults based on caste, religion, or language.”
On Tuesday, the West Bengal police claimed that one of its officers was called ‘Khalistani’ by the state’s Leader of Opposition Adhikari and added that stern legal action was being initiated.
“We, the West Bengal Police fraternity, are outraged to share this video, where one of our own officers was called ‘Khalistani’ by the state’s Leader of the Opposition. His ‘fault’: he is both a proud Sikh, and a capable police officer who was trying to enforce the law…,” the state police wrote in a post on X.