Gautam Gambhir has sent a defamation notice to Atishi, Sisodia and Kejriwal

Delhi is an important battle ground for elections has seen interesting episodes of politicians trying to garner support by hook or by crook. The capital of the country will be voting on the 12^th of May and the 7 candidates of the various parties are ready with their suit and armour to fight big in the 6^th phase. One of topmost contenders from AAP Atishi Marlena, who is contesting from East Delhi against BJP’s Gautam Gambhir, has accused BJP for circulating pamphlets slandering her. According to AAP the pamphlets were circulated in various areas of the constituency. In this regard Gautam Gambhir has challenged the claim and sent a defamation notice to Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Atishi.  

AAP candidate Atishi said, “BJP and Gautam Gambhirji distributed it in different apartment complexes… the pamphlets should raise a question to the country, how politics happens in the country, mainly against a woman,”. Adding further to the accusations, the senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia said, “How low he [Mr. Gambhir] can stoop down in this election, he and his party has shown,”.  The series of accusations continued with the party president, Kejriwal who took to twitter and said that if people like Gautam Gambhir were voted in, women’s safety in the city would be of great concern. Well, for the CM’s information, Delhi has been declared the most unsafe city for women under his government’s regime.

Rubbishing the accusations, Gautam Gambhir said, “I abhor your act of outraging a woman’s modesty, Arvind Kejriwal, and that too your own colleague,” he further added that such gimmicks by AAP to win elections shows the amount of filth there is in the party and that it should be cleaned by the broom that symbolises the party. Gambhir sent a defamation notice to Atishi and also said that if the accusations are proven right, he will withdraw his name. However, in case the accusations are false, Arvind Kejriwal along with Atishi should quit politics. Amidst all these, the point which is most enraging is that AAP’s claim and accusation on Gautam Gambhir is without any valid proof.

According to the legal notice sent by Gambhir, “The Noticees vide the statements in the press conference and on social media websites (‘impugned statement’) have in a calculated and coordinated manner, wrongly and erroneously alleged that these pamphlets have been distributed by our client/ or at his behest,” The notice further states that the false statements have been alleged keeping in view the impending elections on 12^th May. 

AAP has a history of carrying out political stunts right before the elections so that they can gain the sympathy votes on account of the opposition party being defamed and their image being tainted. Recently the party supremo and Delhi’s Chief Minister was slapped by a man in his Moti Nagar rally. Kejriwal without giving a second thought to his own wrong doing to the people of Delhi blamed the BJP for the man who slapped him. While the BJP condemned the blame and accusation, it also criticised the AAP leader for scripting such acts to gain sympathy votes for the party. In the past as well, Arvind Kejriwal resorted to similar gimmicks to gain sympathy in Lok Sabha elections of 2014. The party chief crying on stage in rallies is also a well known way to gather sympathy by the AAP. It is therefore not surprising that his party candidates are also using the same tactics to garner the support of the voters.

While some resort to decent campaigns to convince people of their candidature, others choose a more theatrical method to gain undeserved attention. With 2 poll phases left, India will soon see the results of the choice the citizens of the country have made.