Ghaziabad: Suspected Hindu activists attacked the AAP office here Wednesday, apparently to protest a statement on Kashmir made by party leader Prashant Bhushan, police and witnesses said.
The attackers, their number varying between 25 to 40, barged into the Aam Aadmi Party office at Kaushambi township, stoned it heavily shattering glass windows, broke flower pots and abused AAP leaders, AAP leader Dilip Pandey told IANS.
They also ransacked furniture inside the office.
The AAP office at Kaushambi is located not far from the personal residence of AAP founder leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Before fleeing after some 20 minutes, the attackers threatened to target AAP leaders in the future too. Pandey said they seemed to be from a group called Hindu Raksha Dal.
A Hindu Rakshal Dal banner was found at the site, Pandey said.
“All our volunteers were asked to get inside (the office) when the attack took place,” Pandey said, adding the attackers raised slogans against a particular community.
AAP members present in the office did not retaliate.
Asked if the arson was a reaction to Bhushan’s comments on army deployment in the Kashmir Valley, comments from which the AAP has distanced itself, Pandey said: “It may be possible.”
The attackers, in their 20s and 30s, came in three or five cars, witnesses said.
Superintendent of Police Muniraj said a police complaint had been registered and police officers had been assigned to arrest the culprits.
Muniraj told IANS later that the AAP office would now be given security.
Some witnesses had furnished the police the registration numbers of the cars in which the men reached the AAP office. “We are hopeful of arresting them,” Muniraj said.
