The BJP on Saturday hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over the alleged assault incident of sitting Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, saying that the AAP has become synonymous with ‘Anti-Women Party’.

On Thursday, the Delhi Police lodged an FIR against Bibhav Kumar, the personal secretary of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in connection with the alleged assault on Maliwal that took place on May 13 at CM Kejriwal’s official residence.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here over the issue, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, “At 9 am on May 13th, an incident of misconduct with Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal took place at Delhi CM’s residence. Initially, there was a silence of 72 hours until May 18th and then Sanjay Singh (AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP) acknowledged the matter to some extent and subsequently, efforts were made to defend the incident.”

“The AAP has become synonymous with ‘Anti-Women Party’. From corruption to misconduct and then defamation, this has become the ideology of the Aam Aadmi Party,” Poonawalla said.

He also accused AAP leader and Delhi Cabinet Minister Atishi of character assassination against Rajya Sabha MP and victim Swati Maliwal.

The BJP national spokesperson pointed out that during a press conference today, Atishi defended her ministerial position by highlighting, “Another video clip has emerged showing Swati Maliwal without any signs of injury or torn clothes. Instead of crying, she is seen expressing her anger loudly.”

“The Aam Aadmi Party’s stance is that if there is no visible physical evidence of assault, such as tears or torn clothes, does it mean that nothing happened to the woman? Discussing a victim in this manner constitutes victim blaming and victim shaming. Such arguments are being presented by the Aam Aadmi Party in the press conference,” he said.

Poonawalla presented a video of MP Sanjay Singh’s press conference, raising questions to the Aam Aadmi Party: “Why did they have to make a U-turn with Atishi’s press conference, within 72 hours? Was Sanjay Singh being untruthful? Atishi clarifies that Sanjay Singh was aware of only one perspective, implying that he conducted the press conference based on a biased understanding.”

“Another query arises, Why is Arvind Kejriwal silent on this entire matter? The third question is: What narrative does the Aam Aadmi Party aim to construct by releasing 20-second snippets from a one-hour sequence of events? Despite having a history of crafting narratives using short clips, the Aam Aadmi Party should release the entire CCTV footage. Swati Maliwal herself has raised concerns about potential tampering with CCTV footage. She has stated that political hitmen are releasing short videos to protect themselves, intending to shift blame onto the victim,” the BJP national spokesperson said.

“Why are the leaders of the INDI Alliance maintaining silence about this disgraceful victim shaming and blaming done by Atishi? Why is Priyanka Vadra, who champions the slogan “Ladki Hoon, Ladd Sakti Hoon”, silent on this issue? Why is Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena (UBT), who left Congress due to misconduct against herself, silent on this matter? Why hasn’t Rahul Gandhi, who is known to stand up for women’s dignity anywhere, spoken about this issue yet? Does Rahul Gandhi accept victim shaming?,” Poonawalla added.