Secretariat turns into a battlefield

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Secretariat was the venue of unsavoury events on Tuesday when a group was seen heckling environment minister Imran Husain and Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashish Khetan and manhandling their aides. The incidents forced the state government to shift the cabinet meet, scheduled in the evening, from the secretariat to the CM’s residence and postpone over half a dozen other meetings, including an all-ministers engagement planned for the day.
When Khetan arrived at the secretariat at 1pm, he encountered a gathering of 150 people, including some government employees.AAP claimed the rest were outsiders “disguised” as employees. “A group of people ran to grab me as I was waiting for the lift, all the while shouting ‘maro, maro’,” claimed Khetan. “My associates and personal security officer feared for my safety and took me to the rear where another lift is located. The group thrashed my associates, hurting some of them.”
Amid the melee, Husain too arrived for work. Khetan claimed that the minister was heckled and his aides too were physically attacked. Husain later claimed that the mob damaged his phone, confined him to the lift and even threatened to kill him.
Due to the disturbances, no work could be done during the day, an official claimed. Sudama Singh, a retiree had come for work related to his pension but returned disappointed. Others had a tough time in the different departments, mainly because most of the officials had boycotted work to protest the alleged assault on chief secretary Anshu Prakash the previous night.
“Delhi Police neither tried to control the situation nor did we get protection when attacked,” Khetan said.
He wondered how so many people could gather inside the secretariat when entry was screened and restricted. While AAP charged BJP with instigating some employees, the party’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh accused the chief secretary of having supported the mob attack.
A sense of uncertainty prevailed in the corridors of the secretariat for hours, forcing the ministers to stay put in their chambers. Police escorted health minister Satyendar Jain out from the rear. Khetan and Husain have lodged police complaints and sought appointments with Union home minister Rajnath Singh and lieutenant governor Anil Baijal on the issue.