BJP slams Kejriwal over attempt to 'damage' Ambedkar statue in Punjab, holds protest in Delhi

New Delhi: The BJP on Monday slammed Arvind Kejriwal over an alleged attempt to damage a statue of BR Ambedkar in Punjab, and demanded that he apologise to the Dalit community and step down as AAP convenor.

The saffron party also held a protest near Kejriwal's Firozshah Road residence.

Party leaders said BJP national general secretary Dushyant Gautam, Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva, Lok Sabha MP Yogendra Chandolia, and Scheduled Tribe Morcha president Mohanlal Gihara, among others, were detained during the demonstration.

They were later released from the Mandir Marg police station, they said.

Earlier in the day, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann condemned the attempt to damage Ambedkar's statue and said strict action would be taken in the matter.

The Punjab Police on Sunday arrested a man from Moga district for allegedly attempting to damage Ambedkar's statue at the Town Hall on Heritage Street that leads to the Golden Temple.

BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged in a press conference that a man climbed the statue in front of a police station and tried to damage it with a hammer.

"We demand that Kejriwal immediately rush to Amritsar and seek apology from Dr Amebdkar and the Dalit community and resign from his post," Patra said.

This was not the first time that Kejriwal "insulted" Ambedkar and Dalits, he charged.

"He promised to appoint a Dalit as deputy chief minister in Punjab but failed to do it. In a poster of the Constitution, he put his photograph instead of Ambedkar," he said.

With assembly polls in Delhi due in a few days, Patra said he had learnt that Kejriwal was conspiring to "stage-manage" an attack on himself to blame the BJP.

Patra and Sachdeva also released a manifesto of "misdeeds of AAPda (AAP)" during the press conference, seeking Kejriwal's apology.

Slamming AAP leaders Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and former minister Satyendar Jain, Patra said they were all facing corruption charges and, except Atishi, were out on bail.

Sachdeva, meanwhile, said during the protest that the AAP government in Punjab had been a mute spectator to the condemnable act of damaging Ambedkar's statue in party-ruled Punjab.

An attack on Ambedkar's statue is an attack on the Constitution, he said, accusing Kejriwal of being "anti-Dalit.

Chandolia alleged law and order in Punjab had collapsed and demanded that Kejriwal apologise to the people and remove Mann as Punjab chief minister.

The North West Delhi MP has also written to Kejriwal, seeking permission of the Amritsar administration for a BJP delegation to visit the city and pay obeisance to Ambedkar.