AAP actions remind of Stalinist purges: Prashant Bhushan

The AAP's actions are reminiscent of Stalinist purges, said dissident leader Prashant Bhushan on Monday in his reply to the party's show cause notice.

"When you remove NE (National Executive) member or even a Lokpal for merely questioning the illegal and unjustifiable actions of the convener or those who are in control of the party, when you label any dissenter as traitor and charge him with anti-party activities, when you instil fear among the members of the party for merely questioning the party moving away from its founding principles, it does remind one of a Stalinist purge," stated Bhushan in his reply to the show cause notice of the party.

He further said that expressing a different opinion cannot be treated as a violation of the code of conduct. "Mere expression of a difference of opinion should not be considered as violation of the code of conduct unless it violates the objectives of the party. You now want to become judges of your own cause," he said.

Replying to AAP Secretary Pankaj Gupta, Bhushan wrote: "It is indeed remarkable and ironic that you along with Ashish Khetan and Dinesh Vaghela have sent this notice to us, styling yourself as the 'National Disciplinary Committee'. I am not aware as to who has constituted this as the National Disciplinary Committee and when and how this was done."

Yogendra Yadav, Bhushan, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha were served a show-cause notice by the disciplinary committee of the party three days ago.

Bhushan and Yadav were expelled from the party's national executive at a meeting of the national council on March 28.