Party holds massive protest outside the residence of lawyer Rakesh Kishore who attempted to hurl a shoe at Chief Justice BR Gavai
NEW DELHI — The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday staged a massive protest outside the residence of lawyer Rakesh Kishore who attempted to hurl a shoe at Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, calling it an attack on the dignity of the Dalit community and on the Constitution itself.
Led by Delhi AAP president and former minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, party workers carried a garland of shoes meant for the accused lawyer but were stopped by police from reaching his residence. The protesters accused the BJP of shielding the assaulter and promoting online campaigns glorifying him.
Addressing the gathering, Bharadwaj said the incident was “an insult to Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar” and a reflection of BJP’s “anti-Dalit mindset.” He warned that the ruling party wanted to “crush the voice of justice” and “rewrite the Constitution to restore caste oppression.”
“The BJP’s troll army has been targeting the Chief Justice only because he is a Dalit. They cannot tolerate a person from the Dalit community holding a high post,” Bharadwaj said. “If Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi can wear expensive suits and sunglasses, why can’t the Chief Justice buy a new pair of shoes? These people are angry because a Dalit has reached the top.”
He accused the RSS of hypocrisy, noting that the organisation has “never made a Dalit its Sarsanghchalak” in the hundred years of its existence. “When the Chief Justice’s mother refused to attend the RSS event saying she was Ambedkarite, they called her anti-Sanatani. These are fake Sanatanis, enemies of both Ambedkar and Hinduism,” he said.
This is the RSS’s double character. When Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta insulted Hanuman and Maa Durga, their ‘Sanatani’ did not wake up. They remained silent in the Ankita Bhandari murder, the Hathras rape and the Kuldeep Sengar case. But when a shoe was thrown at a Dalit Chief Justice, their ‘Sanatani’ woke up. These are false ‘Sanatanis’ and the greatest enemies of Hinduism, he said.
Bharadwaj added that the BJP had sought a two-thirds majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to “change the Constitution,” but the people of India rejected that attempt. “Because Babasaheb’s Constitution is alive, we can raise our voice on the streets. If they change it, they will again tie haandi (clay pot) and jhaadu (broom) around Dalits’ necks,” he warned.
Kuldeep Kumar, the party’s legislator from Kondli, also condemned the attack, saying it was “not on one individual but on every Dalit, backward and minority citizen who believes in the Constitution.” He said the BJP and RSS were trying to “revive a 5,000-year-old mentality of slavery” and vowed that Dalits would “answer through the power of their vote.”
AAP Delhi Women’s Wing president Sarika Chaudhary said the incident reflected deep-seated caste prejudice. “A person from the Dalit community reaches such a position only after years of struggle, yet this is how he is treated. If this attack had been on a BJP leader or the prime minister, the accused would have been in jail by now,” she said.
Chaudhary alleged that no action had been taken because the Chief Justice belongs to the Dalit community. “The same Dalit community that made Modi, Yogi and Rekha Gupta leaders is being insulted today,” she added.
AAP demanded immediate action against the lawyer and accountability from the authorities, saying that the attack was “an assault on the Constitution and on every marginalised Indian.”
