After the screening of a documentary, said to be based on the arrests of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders over the last few years, was cancelled on Saturday, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal attacked the BJP over what he described as “dictatorship”.
The Delhi Police, however, said the party did not have permission for the screening.
AAP had organised a media screening of the documentary titled Unbreakable, which the party officials described as a “gripping documentary on the unprecedented assault on AAP and its leaders”. The screening was supposed to start at 11.30 am at the designated venue and Kejriwal was the chief guest.
Following the cancellation, an official statement from the Delhi Police said, “As elections have been declared, political parties have to apply for permission through a single window system at the DEO office (which is the DM office). This is a standard process during elections. For the said event, no such permission was taken; and hence, it would have been a violation of guidelines. We urge all parties to follow the rules and regulations at this time.”
“Further, it is clarified that Delhi Police can neither grant nor reject such permission at this time….,” it added.
Kejriwal, however, said the documentary could not be screened because the BJP was “afraid”.
“Today, we had organised the screening of one of our films for the media… This was a private and not public screening but a lot of police force was pressed to stop the screening. Why is the BJP so afraid of this film? I haven’t seen it but I’m told this is the story of AAP leaders being sent behind bars. It lifts the veil off a lot of conspiracies that were hatched to send AAP leaders behind bars.”
“Where does it say that permission is needed to screen the film? There is no election-related message in it… why is the BJP so afraid? This is goondagardi (hooliganism)… dictatorship,” he said at a press conference.
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