AAP forced to defend, apologise its leaders' statements

It was a day for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to defend and apologize

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday was forced to defend as well as apologise for the statements of two of its high-ranking leaders. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal distanced his party from party member Prashant Bhushan’s statement on Kashmir, and then another AAP leader, Kumar Vishwas apologised for his comments that were seen as mocking a particular religion. “AAP does not support referenda on such issues,” Kejriwal said. On Sunday, Bhushan had said he favoured a referendum in Kashmir to decide on army deployment. “Deployment of the army within the country should be decided on the basis of internal security threat. There is no question of a referendum on this. But we believe the sentiments of locals should be respected. Otherwise, democracy will be under threat,” Kejriwal said.

Later, the AAP held a press conference clarifying Bhushan's and party's stand on this issue. The party, reading out Bhushan's written clarification, said that Bhushan was quoted out of context. Bhushan said that media channels had sensationalized his statement out of context to his stand on the Kashmir issue. Also, party clarified that it is against any referendum on the Kashmir issue.

"I had said that impunity of AFSPA should be removed to win hearts of people of Kashmir. I further said that my personal view was that even the deployment of armed forces in huge numbers within Kashmir -- not for external defense or infiltration -- but for the security of the people should not be done without their consent", Bhushan's statement said.

Bhushan clarified he had said this in the view of participatory governance, further adding, "It is prerogative of the state to deploy security forces including armed forces to any stretch....This should be exercised in the best interest of people and as far as possible", the Supreme court lawyer said.

The observations of Bhushan drew criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Arun Jaitley. The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said AAP’s position was ‘hostile to India’s interests’.
 
“The issues of national security cannot be decided by populism or referendum. They can only be decided on security considerations,” Jaitley wrote in his blog titled ‘Should National Security Issues be decided by Local Referendum?’

Vishwas was forced to apologise for an eight-year old video, which according to Janata Dal (United) MLA Shoaib Iqbal, ‘outraged’ the sensibilities of Muslims. Iqbal, who supported AAP during the no-confidence motion in the Delhi Assembly, threatened to withdraw support if Vishwas did not apologise.

“If anybody’s religious sentiments are hurt, it was not my intention...I apologise for it,” Vishwas said. He said the version of the video being circulated was edited and hence distorted his statements.