New Delhi, February 17 – The Delhi BJP on Tuesday condemned the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for symbolically burning a newspaper as a protest against "unfavorable" media coverage, calling it a sign of anarchist ideology.
Delhi BJP Media Head Praveen Shankar Kapoor criticized AAP Convenor Saurabh Bharadwaj's act of burning a newspaper during a press conference, ostensibly to threaten the media, restrict freedom of the press, and assert the party's anarchist mentality.
Kapoor stated that, perhaps for the first time in Delhi's political history, a political party leader had publicly burned a newspaper simply because it did not publish news in line with his viewpoint.
He said that burning a newspaper is a repulsive act, similar to the oppressive cycle being run against the media—especially a particular media group—by the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab.
Kapoor stated that for 11 continuous years, the Arvind Kejriwal government exerted pressure on the media to ensure that the BJP did not get space in news coverage, and today, while in opposition, AAP leaders are trying to pressure the media by burning newspapers.
Kapoor said that the Delhi BJP strongly condemns AAP leader Bharadwaj for burning a newspaper during a press conference, and by doing so, he has made it clear that if they ever come back to power, they will once again run a media suppression cycle like that of 2013 to 2024.
On Monday, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva had accused the AAP of adopting double standards towards a private school in south Delhi, which allegedly withheld some students' board examination admit cards.
Sachdeva said that Bharadwaj went to APJ School in Saket to protest the alleged withholding of some students' board examination admit cards due to a fee hike, whereas it was the governments of then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Atishi that granted the school permission to increase fees in the academic years 2022–23, 2023–24, and 2024–25.
"Leaders of the AAP are so quick at changing their political stand that perhaps even a chameleon cannot change its colours as fast," said Sachdeva.