Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Manoj Tiwari has been booked for breaking the lock of a sealed house in Gukulpur. The complaint was lodged by East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) on Monday, a day after Tiwari allegedly broke the lock, and Delhi police registered a First Information Report (FIR).
Tiwari allegedly broke the lock in an unauthorised colony while protesting the ongoing sealing drive on Sunday (September 16). EDMC says the property in northeast Delhi was sealed as it was being used as a 'dairy facility', in violation of the Delhi Master Plan. However, Tiwari says the place is too small to run such an activity.
The seed behind the act of civil disobedience was sown on Sunday, when locals told Tiwari, during his visit to Gokalpuri, that only one house had been sealed by EDMC. "I broke the seal of the corporation's pick-and-choose policy. The locals claimed all the houses were illegally constructed but a particular house was singled out for action by the corporation," he said.
He now plans to file a counter FIR. "Up until now, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said that we were responsible for sealing," said Tiwari. "Now when we are opposing it, they've changed tune and say we are breaking the law. I challenge (Delhi Chief Minister) Arvind Kejriwal to visit the colonies and answer the public. They won 67 seats out of 70 because they promised that unauthorised colonies would be regularised and roads will be notified, but no such thing has happened."
The drive to seal commercial establishments flouting provisions of the 2021 Master Plan began on January 7 in Khan Market, under the orders of a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee. Section 188, under which Tiwari has been charged, pertains to disobedience to an order promulgated by a public servant, and punishment under it can be six months in prison and a fine.
Tiwari also attacked the Congress, saying the problem of sealing was a result of their "failure" to address the issue of unauthorised colonies. "Congress ruled Delhi for 15 years and AAP has been at the helm of affairs for the last three and a half years. They never made any sincere efforts to address the issue of unauthorised colonies in Delhi," he charged.
The Delhi Congress, which is running a 'Nyay Yudh' campaign against "illegal" sealing of household industries in the city, demanded the resignation of BJP MPs in Delhi, including Tiwari, for "failing" to protect people hit by the drive.
