Delhi BJP minority morcha protests against Kejriwal

New Delhi: The Delhi BJP's minority morcha held a protest near AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal's residence on Firozshah Road here, demanding action against his party MLA Naresh Kumar, who has been convicted in a case of desecration of the Quran in Punjab.

The Mehrauli MLA was on last Saturday sentenced to two years in prison by the Malerkotla district court in Punjab in the 2016 case.

"Despite the conviction of his MLA for showing disrespect to the holy Quran, Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Muslim leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are mum.

This exposes the double standards of Kejriwal and his party," Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said during the protest. The protesters gathered on Ashok Road and tried to march towards Kejriwal's 5, Firozshah Road residence but were stopped by police. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 11,000 on Yadav.

BJP spokesperson Shazia Ilmi told reporters that another AAP MLA, Naresh Balyan, was recently arrested by the Delhi Police on extortion charges, as she hit out at party leader Arvind Kejriwal.

"Be it extorting money or stoking communal passion, such shrewd minds and such a party in its greed for power can go to any extent," she alleged. Ilmi, who was once with AAP before falling out with Kejriwal, said Delhi's ruling party says all kinds of things to get Muslim votes but its MLA conspires to defile the Quran in Punjab. Kejriwal's friend and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav should also talk about it, she said.

"This party (AAP) has crossed all limits and come to a dangerous place," Ilmi said, adding that it is now up to the people to decide to get rid of such leaders. Ilmi suggested that Kejriwal's recent attack on the Delhi Police over the law and order situation in the national capital was due to the action against Balyan.

A court in Punjab's Malerkotla district last week awarded a two-year sentence to Naresh Yadav in a 2016 case of desecration of the Quran.