Kejriwal assault sparks fierce outcry from socio-political spectrum

New Delhi, Oct 18 (ANI): The assault on civil society activist Arvind Kejriwal has sparked of a fierce outcry from political leaders and members of the civil society.

The Congress Party, which has been at loggerheads with Hazare and his associates since the past few months, unequivocally condemned the incident.

"Political parties and members have diverse opinions and views on an issue. This does not mean that a person can take the law into his or her own hands. You cannot use violence to suppress opposing views. I condemn this attack on Arvind Kejriwal," Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi told mediapersons in New Delhi.

Echoing similar sentiments, Alvi's counterpart from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Shahnawaz Hussain, termed the whole episode a conspiracy against civil society activists and called for a probe.

"Many people are upset ever since Team Anna has visited Uttar Pradesh. This incident should be investigated to find out who was behind the attack on Arvind Kejriwal and what was the motive? This is totally undemocratic. The voice of whistleblowers should not be gagged. Whoever is behind the attack must be punished," said Hussain.

In Etawah, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev termed the incident a cowardly act.

"This is very unfortunate and it falls under the responsibility of the central and state governments to see to it that such incidents are not repeated. Prima facie, I feel that this is a pre-meditated conspiracy, which should be investigated till its roots. I believe that is not an ordinary incident of throwing slippers, as it can transform into fatal attacks in the future," said Baba Ramdev.

A youth named Jeetendra Pathak had hurled a slipper at Kejriwal in Lucknow on Tuesday, while he was on his way to attend a programme as their campaign against corruption.

This is the second attack on a member of Team Anna in the last ten days. Earlier on October 12, senior Supreme Court lawyer Bhushan was beaten up by suspected to be from Sriram Sena activists in his court chambers over his stand on Jammu and Kashmir.

Kejriwal had earlier said that he had been receiving threats, and termed the whole episode to be a conspiracy against the civil society activists.

"I have been receiving messages from yesterday that my office will be attacked. I have been receiving these messages from yesterday evening that people would attack on us. Are they the same people, who had attacked day before yesterday? So, we all had a telephonic conversation and decided that we will not hit back on somebody," Kejriwal said. (ANI)