Author: TNN
Publication: The Times of India
Date: March 7, 2014
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Jaitley-accuses-AAP-of-playing-Goebbels/articleshow/31564782.cms

There was no let up in the tension between BJP and AAP, with the former accusing Arvind Kejriwal's party of using lies as a political weapon for advancing their political goals and blaming Rajmohan Gandhi for allowing himself to be used as a tool for the tactic.

 BJP leader Arun Jaitley accused AAP of wrongly claiming that Kejriwal was detained in Gujarat on Thursday in order to derive political mileage. Saying that AAP was mimicking the tactic of Hitler's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels who believed that lies became credible if they were big and said repeatedly, Jaitley rebutted the charge of the fledgling outfit that Kejriwal was detained by Gujarat police.

 He said Kejriwal was neither arrested nor detained, emphasizing that after the model code of conduct came into force, police and district officials across the country routinely checked all politicians and their personal baggage to see whether cash was being ferried. Stressing that officials engaged in such operations reported to the Election Commission and not to the state government, Jaitley said, "We always accept that (checks) as part of the Election Commission's efforts to conduct free and fair elections. But Kejriwal makes his non-detention a national crisis."

 He further said AAP's allegation and the demonstrations it organized in front of BJP offices was standard tactic of the group which sent text messages to mobilize supporters and "pelt" stones. "After provoking an altercation with BJP cadres and police in various parts of the country the Aam Aadmi Party leaders landed up in TV studios. They pretend to be innocent victims. It was a peaceful protest which was attacked from inside, they say," Jaitley said.

 He emphasized that Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and AAP's candidate from east Delhi, went along with his AAP colleagues. "Regrettably, even the likes of Rajmohan Gandhi offered themselves to become instruments of this false propaganda. The violent protest of AAP was peaceful, he asserted," the BJP leader said, accusing AAP of portraying the victims of their violence as perpetrators.