FIR over Santa Claus video: Delhi chief Virendra Sachdeva slams AAP’s petty politics

New Delhi, Dec 25 Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said on Thursday that the registration of an FIR against Aam Aadmi Party leaders Saurabh Bharadwaj, Sanjeev Jha and Adil Ahmed Khan for hurting the sentiments of Christians has exposed their insensitive and petty politics.

He said that after being removed from power by the people of Delhi, AAP leaders have stooped to low levels, resorting to frivolous tactics to remain in the news.

Sachdeva said that a party president who has been an MLA and a minister, and Sanjeev Jha, who is still an MLA, work as public representatives and therefore should not lose their sense of seriousness.

He said that the three AAP leaders against whom the FIR has been registered have indulged in an indecent act by mocking religious faith, which is not acceptable in any religion.

The Delhi BJP president said that making fun of any religion is wrong under all circumstances.

The Delhi BJP President said that AAP leaders carried out the derogatory act when the minority community was observing its festival.

Accusing AAP leaders of mocking the minority community, Sachdeva stated that while being in the opposition gives one the right to protest on any issue, there is a constitutional and sensitive way to do so.

The BJP leader’s outburst against the AAP leaders came close to the registration of an FIR against them for hurting the religious sentiments of the Christian community through improper depiction of Santa Claus in a political video related to the city’s air quality.

A police official said the AAP leaders were named in the FIR for featuring a Santa Claus wearing a gas mask and depicting him as “fainted” in a video posted on the social media account of these leaders on December 17 and 18, the official said.

The AAP leaders have been booked under Section 302 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which carries a punishment of up to one year.

The provision penalises intentionally wounding someone's religious feelings through words, sounds, gestures, or placing objects, with punishments up to one year imprisonment, a fine, or both, aiming to protect religious harmony and free speech.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of advocate Kushboo George, who alleged that the AAP leaders depicted Santa Claus in a derogatory manner in their video.

The complaint said the video is linked to a political skit performed and shot in the Connaught Place area in Central Delhi.

George said that the use of Santa Claus as a prop in the video, the act of making him faint and falling on the road, was derogatory and deliberate to hurt the religious sentiments of Christians.

--IANS

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