NEW DELHI: The BJP on Monday welcomed a Delhi court's conviction of former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain in the killing of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots and alleged that AAP and Congress had backed those accused of violence.
The remarks came after a Delhi court on Monday convicted Hussain and four others in the killing of Sharma, while acquitting six other accused.
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said Hussain's conviction is an indictment of the AAP and the Congress.
"Hussain has been convicted. Satyamev Jayate. It is the conviction of the entire AAP-Congress ecosystem, which was behind these anti-Hindu riots," Poonawalla alleged in a video statement.
He further alleged that the AAP had "sponsored" the riots and later defended Hussain by portraying him as a victim.
In a statement, AAP said that within hours of an FIR being registered against Tahir Hussain in the 2020 Delhi riots case, the party suspended him from its primary membership on February 27, 2020, and since then, he has had no association with AAP.
He pointed out that Hussain contested the Delhi Assembly election as an AIMIM candidate. "He contested from Mustafabad, a Muslim-majority constituency, where his candidature split the Muslim vote and ultimately helped the BJP candidate win the seat," AAP alleged.
Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra hailed the conviction of Hussain and demanded that AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal tender a public apology.
"Aam Aadmi Party had a strong bond with several anti-national activists which has time and again been exposed," Malhotra claimed.
The BJP alleged that the 2020 Delhi riots were "not organic" but a "sponsored attack" against Hindus.
"It was not just the murder of Ankit Sharma, but also an attack on the Hindu community. The Delhi 2020 riot is not organic; it is organised. It is a sponsored attack and it is carried out against Hindus," Poonawalla alleged.
He also claimed that the Congress and the AIMIM had defended several other accused in the riots.
"The Aam Aadmi Party not only sponsored it, it defended it. It said Tahir is being persecuted because he is a Muslim. Sanjay Singh and Amanatullah Khan said it.
"The Congress and the AIMIM also defended it. They also defended Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. All the rioters, the accused and the terrorists in this entire anti-Hindu programme were defended by the ecosystem."
"Who is this anti-Hindu ecosystem? They are the Congress, AIMIM and the Aam Aadmi Party that defended the likes of Tahir Hussain. The mask has fallen off," he alleged.
BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari also attacked the AAP, alleging that its leaders had defended Hussain for "vote-bank politics".
"Tahir Hussain, blue-eyed boy of AAP, gets convicted for murdering IB officer Ankit Sharma. Sanjay Singh and Kejriwal have defended Tahir Hussain for vote-bank (politics)," he said in a post on X.
He claimed that the nation would not forget that the AAP had chosen to stand with a "murderer and rioter" for electoral gains.
Delhi's tourism minister and MLA from Karawal Nagar in North East Delhi, Kapil Mishra, said that the riots were a "well-planned conspiracy to "massacre" Hindus and force them to flee from the area.
"Who was Tahir Hussain and why were AAP leaders protecting him?" Mishra said and claimed that Hussain was in touch with AAP leaders during the riots.
"Those who now pose as Sanatanis and hold Sundarkand Path tried to protect the perpetrators of the riots," Mishra said in an apparent reference to AAP leaders.
The AAP on Sunday launched a signature campaign demanding strict punishment for alleged donation theft at Ram temple in Ayodhya.
BJP MLA and Delhi government spokesperson Harish Khurana also slammed the AAP over the conviction of Hussain
"The way Kejriwal and his associates tried to protect Tahir Hussain showed he is anti-Hindu," Khurana charged and added that Hussain was a corporator of AAP at the time of the riots.