New Delhi : So long caste, religion and language have played their role in electoral battles. Now it is the turn of ‘gotra’ to get into the act.
In newspaper advertisements, the BJP has sought to warn the people against voting for Kejriwal on the basis of his threat to disrupt the R-Day celebrations last year and his demand for a VVIP pass this year. ‘‘O Anarchist…crores of citizens of the country mark the Republic Day as a national occasion and are proud of it. And your disorderly gotra was ready to disrupt this as well,” said a line in the advertisement.
Reacting to the advertisement, Kejriwal said: “The BJP can fight against me. But how can they call the entire Agarwal gotra a disruptive one.”
He added: “We will complain to the Election Commission. The people of Delhi do not like this abusive politics. On the day of polling people will reply to this.”
The BJP defended the poll advertisement reasoning that the so-called obnoxious references were a figure of speech to which Kejriwal was giving a casteist twist. The explanation, incidentally, came from BJP leader Piyush Goyal, who is from the same community as Kejriwal.
Goyal also said the AAP was trying to misconstrue a metaphor used in the political context. He insisted that the word “gotra” was not intended to describe “AAPs disruptive politics.” It is like “a sea of troubles does not mean a literal sea,” Goyal reasoned.
Kejriwal could not have been more pleased at the turn of events on the eve of elections as it enables him to don the mantle of a victim. He bemoaned: “The BJP targeted my children in their ad, but I kept quiet, didn’t react… the BJP has been launching personal attacks on me through their ads, but today they referred to the entire Agarwal Samaj as ‘Upadravi.’’’
The Agarwal community in Delhi is not too happy with the BJP government at the Centre given the speculation that it is warming up to FDI in retail. All these hardcore BJP voters are leaning towards Kejriwal who wears his ‘Bania’ credentials up his sleeve.
