A day after claiming that mosques were "mushrooming" on roads and government land in the national capital, BJP’s MP from West Delhi, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma on Wednesday accused the Congress and AAP of ignoring the issue for vote bank politics. He claimed that nearly 100 mosques existed on government land or on roadsides in the city.
However, Congress and AAP leaders hit back at the BJP accusing it of "communalising" the issue for political gains in the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls which will be held in early 2020. Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said that law and order and land issues in the national capital are under the purview of the Centre, where the BJP is in power.
In a Press Conference, Sisodia said, "People have elected them (BJP MPs) for law and order, and land. They use people as a vote bank and thereafter, they don't speak to them for five years. You can also see the law-and-order situation in Delhi," Sisodia said in a press conference.
On Tuesday, Verma wrote to Lt Governor Anil Baijal to seek the formation of multi-agency committees headed by district magistrates concerned to survey such mosques. He also asked to take "immediate action" to check "mushrooming" of mosques on government land and roads in the city and his constituency West Delhi.
While talking to the reporters, Verma said that he possesses complete evidence and a list of such mosques and graveyards on encroached land, which he will hand over to the committee. He added that this Vote Bank Politics was done by Sheila Dikshit and is now being acted upon by the Aam Aadmi Party. He claimed that 20 mosques in his constituency and around 100 across the city stand on government land or roadsides.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Congress working President, Haroon Yusuf accused the BJP MP of "communalising the issue". He said that instead of focusing on core issues like scarcity of water and unemployment, BJP and its leaders are busy with their communal agenda. He also added that Verma should understand that they have been voted to power to serve the people.
Yusuf then claimed that to attend to complaints of encroachments a 'religious structures committee', headed by the Lt Governor, already exists. "Verma perhaps does not know this despite being a two-term MP. The religious committee receives complaints and action is taken but he seems to have no knowledge of it," he said.
Meanwhile, according to Firstpost, Senior AAP leader Raghav Chadha said, "It is a communal statement by the BJP ahead of assembly elections in Delhi. Last time they lost so miserably that now the BJP is resorting to its pet subject of communalism." AAP won the 2015 Delhi elections by winning 67 of the 70 Assembly seats leaving 3 to BJP.