Kejriwal slapped by autorickshaw driver

This was the second such attack on the AAP leader in the last four days in Delhi.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was slapped by a man while he was moving in an open car during a road show in the Sultanpuri area of north-west Delhi on Tuesday as part of his party’s campaign for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

This was the second such attack on the AAP leader in the last four days in Delhi.

The man, identified as Lalli, a 38-year-old autorickshaw driver and a resident of Aman Vihar in Outer Delhi, first put a garland around Kejriwal’s neck before slapping him, taking security personnel and his supporters completely unaware.

He accused Kejriwal of not keeping the promises he had made to autorickshaw drivers, who had supported him in the December 4, 2013, elections to the Delhi Legislative Assembly.

The party’s workers immediately pounced on the man and thrashed him before police took him away. Kejriwal was campaigning for his party’s candidate and former Delhi Minister Rakhi Birla when the incident took place.

“I don’t understand why some people resort to violence for becoming the Prime Minister. If you think that we will keep quiet if you keep attacking us, you are wrong. We will fight this battle till the last breath,” Kejriwal said after the incident, hinting that the BJP could have been behind the attack. Later, he took to micro-blogging site Twitter to ask, “I am just thinking — why am I being repeatedly attacked? Who r the masterminds? What do they want? What do they achieve?”

“Is violence an answer to country’s problems? let them tell me place n time. I will come there. Let them beat me as much as they want....but will that solve the problems?” he asked.

Soon after the incident, Kejriwal went to Rajghat, the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, and spent some time.

— news@khaleejtimes.com

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