'Everyone knows which party has mastery in riots'

Everybody knows which party has "mastery in fuelling riots", Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Wednesday hitting back at the BJP's Prakash Javadekar who blamed the AAP for violent protests against the new citizenship law in the national capital in December.

Accusing the BJP of trying to distract people from real issues ahead of the Assembly polls, Sisodia also said the Union minister should understand that the Delhi election would be fought not on "old tapes" that the BJP was playing on a "new tape recorder", but on real issues such as education.

All the policies of the BJP were against "good and cheap" education, he alleged and sought an explanation from the party over hike in CBSE examination fees that "burdened six lakh families" in Delhi.

Earlier in the day, Javadekar who is Delhi BJP in-charge for the Assembly polls, said, "The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress are responsible for the violence during Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in Delhi. They have maintained silence and did not condemn violence and their people incited it."

Responding to the allegation, Sisodia said, "The AAP completely opposes riots and we all know which party indulges in riots. The one with mastery in fuelling riots are telling who are behind riots."

"They are just trying to distract people from real matters by raising these kinds of issues. It is an old tape that the BJP had played earlier and is playing again through a new tape recorder," he said.

Talking to reporters, Sisodia alleged that the Delhi BJP leaders asked the Centre to increase Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exam fees after the city government decided to pay the fees of the students.

"When the Delhi government announced to pay the fees of CBSE exams for classes 10 and 12, then why did the BJP hatch a conspiracy to stop it? The BJP leaders should answer why they were plotting to make the education of lakhs of Delhi's children expensive," he said.

The CBSE increased the fees for class 10 and class 12 board exams in August by up to Rs 1,150, the first hike in five years.

"By increasing the fees, the BJP put the burden on Delhi's six lakh families. This shows that the BJP is against education," Sisodia said.