Atishi Faces Contrasting Allegations After Being Named Delhi CM: Pro-Afzal Guru Parents And Old 'Islamophobic' Post

Rajya Sabha MP of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Swati Maliwal has been attacking the newly appointed Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, despite both being a part of the same Arvind Kejriwal-led political party.

Maliwal has accused Atishi's parents had close relations with former Delhi University professor Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani, who was allegedly involved in the 2001 Parliament attack but was later acquitted of charges.

She further alleged that Atishi's parents were present with Geelani on stage at a press club event in 2016. The event was in memory of Afzal Guru, who was hanged to death after conviction in the Parliament attack case.

Maliwal alleged that slogans like, 'Ek Afzal maaroge to lakhon Afzal paida honge' (If you kill one Afzal, lakhs of him will be born) and 'Kashmir maange azadi' (Kashmir demands freedom) were raised in the event.

She also claimed that Atishi's parents wrote articles like 'Arrest and torture of Syed Geelani' to defend Geelani when he was imprisoned for a while in the Parliament attack case.

"A woman like Atishi is going to become the CM of Delhi, whose own family fought a long battle to save terrorist Afzal Guru from the death penalty," Maliwal said in a video statement.

"Her parents wrote mercy petitions to the President several times, that he is innocent, that he should not be hanged, that he is a victim of political conspiracy," she added.

Maliwal also posted a video clip of Atishi's mother Tripta Wahi saying 'We are unhappy that Afzal has been made, in our political understanding, a scapegoat" and photos of her parents' mercy petition to the President.

Meanwhile, a four-year-old X post (then Twitter) of Atishi is going viral where she is calling for strong action to be taken against the administrators of the Nizamuddin Markaz during the Covid pandemic.

They organised a three-day religious gathering, with thousands of people from 13 to 15 March, when Delhi government orders had expressly forbidden gatherings of more than 200 persons on 13 March itself, Atishi said.

March 2020 marked the beginning of the Covid pandemic in India and a large gathering by Markaz was considered to be threatening in light of the government's efforts to stop the spread of the virus in the country.

Many social media users are perceiving Atishi's post calling for action against Nizamuddin Markaz as Islamophobia and accused her of joining forces with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had a similar stance.