"Why has AAP changed strategy from acceptance to victim shaming?" BJP's Shehzad Poonawala

New Delhi [India], May 18 : After the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) released a set of videos on its 'X' account claiming that these clips expose the truth behind Swati Maliwal, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala questioned why the party has transitioned from "slight acceptance" to "victim shaming".
"If someone is a victim of rape or assault, if the woman does not cry and her clothes are not ripped off and is walking straight, does that mean that nothing has happened to the woman? What kind of an argument is this? Is this acceptable to talk like this? This is victim blaming and victim shaming," Poonawala said in a press conference on Saturday.
Poonawala further questioned what led the AAP to take a different stand from the one taken earlier in which party MP Sanjay Singh said that the matter would be investigated and strict action would be taken.
"What led you to take such an U-turn? How can Sanjay Singh know only one side of the story before attending a press conference? Was Sanjay Singh telling the truth and the strategy has been changed from acceptance to disgusting offence," Poonawala said.
Comparing the entire episode to Mahabharata's Draupadi 'cheerharan' (assault), the BJP leader said, "In modern times Draupadi is not only assaulted but his character is also assassinated. In modern-day Draupadi's assault, there is Dushasan who is now arrested, there is a Duryadhan who is in a meeting, and there is a Dhritarashtra as well who is trying to shield the incident by calling it an internal matter."
Poonawala said that the AAP has responded to the entire Swati Maliwal episode in four phases, starting from 'silence', then "slight acceptance", then moved on to "brazen defence" and now it has transitioned to "disgusting offence".
"The Aam Aadmi Party responded to the entire episode in four phases, the first was silence for 72 hours; then there was a slight acceptance that was done by Sanjay Singh who said (in a press conference) that Bibhav Kumar had misbehaved; then there was brazen defence in which Dushasan that is Bibhav Kumar is seen with Arvind Kejriwal at the Lucknow Airport which means there was no truth into Singh's statement that strict action will be taken. Follwing the phase of brazen defence, there comes disgusting offence," the BJP spokesperson said.
Poonawala said that the first phase of silence on the part of the AAP is continuing as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has not yet spoken on the case.
"The first phase of silence is continuing. Chief Minister is still silent. He had pre-planned his move with Akhilesh beforehand and has asked him to take the mic if he is faced with questions about Swati Maliwal. Why is Arvind Kejriwal silent in this entire episode?" the BJP leader said.
Poonawala also questioned the rationale of selectively leaking some portions of the CCTV footage and not the entire video of the incident.
"Why are they (AAP) selectively leaking 20-second clips from an episode spanning one hour to create a narrative? They have mastered this. Why have they not released the entire video clip?" he said.
The BJP spokesperson also claimed that though Bibhav Kumar has been named as the prime accused in the case, he is only a tool at the hands of his party boss Arvind Kejriwal.
"Bibhav Kumar is only a tool at the hands of Kejriwal and so Kejriwal is silent...Why is the INDIA bloc silent on this?" he said.
Taking a dig at the AAP, Poonawala said, "From corruption to misconduct to disinformation- this has become the standard operating procedure of the Aam Aadmi Party. It has become their idea and etiquette to indulge in this kind of modus operandi."