Atishi's family fought to stop Afzal Guru's hanging, says Swati Maliwal: What's the full story?

Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal (L) and AAP leader Atishi (File)

Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal on Tuesday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for naming Atishi as the new chief minister of Delhi and claimed that her family had fought a battle to stop the hanging of convicted terrorist Afzal Guru.

“Today is a very sad day for Delhi," Maliwal wrote on the social media platform X. "A woman whose family fought a long battle to save terrorist Afzal Guru from being hanged is being made the Chief Minister of Delhi. Her parents wrote mercy petitions to the Honorable President to save terrorist Afzal Guru. According to them, Afzal Guru was innocent and was framed as part of a political conspiracy.”

Atishi is the daughter of Delhi University professors Vijay Singh and Tripta Wahi. She took over as chief minister after Arvind Kejriwal resigned from the top post following a meeting with Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Tuesday evening.

Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal says, "Today is a very sad day for Delhi. The city is about to have a Chief Minister, Atishi, whose own family fought a long battle to save terrorist Afzal Guru from the death penalty..." pic.twitter.com/7QJlHkFR5p
IANS (@ians_india) September 17, 2024

Who was Afzal Guru?

Afzal Guru was sentenced to death over his role in a deadly attack on India’s Parliament in 2001. He was hanged in Delhi’s Tihar jail after his mercy petition was rejected by Pranab Mukherjee, then Indian president. The attack claimed nine lives and injured 18 people. This included six Delhi police officers and two Parliament security officials.

Why is Swati Maliwal mentioning Atishi’s family?

Atishi's mother, Tripta Wahi, was among several activists and professors who had signed a mercy petition for Afzal Guru in 2013. “We write to you in deep anguish, despair but in outrage as well. Afzal Guru was hanged on Saturday (9th February 2013) in secrecy. We have been told— after the hanging— that you rejected the mercy petition filed by Guru’s wife Tabassum, on 3rd February. We believe that you made a grave error in rejecting the mercy petition,” the letter stated. On February 15, 2021, retired professors Vijay Singh and Tripta Wahi, were asked to appear at the police station, for they had spoken at an event marking the third anniversary of Afzal Guru’s hanging.

In an old video, Atishi’s mother can be heard saying: “We are unhappy that Afzal has been made, in our understanding, a scapegoat”.

Earlier, Atishi had addressed the controversy related to her parents' stand on Afzal Guru’s hanging. "I am not responsible for any political decisions made by my parents. The responsibility and accountability for those actions lie with them, and they are fully capable of expressing their own views. I can speak for myself, and I was not in support of that decision," Atishi had said in 2019 in an interview with Amar Ujala.

Maliwal should resign: AAP

Meanwhile, AAP said that Maliwal should resign as the party's Rajya Sabha member and accused her of reading from a “script” given by the BJP. "Understand one thing. Swati Maliwal is a person who takes the ticket to Rajya Sabha from AAP but takes the script to react from BJP. If she has even a little shame, she should resign as a Rajya Sabha MP and choose the path to Rajya Sabha on a BJP ticket. If she wants to be in Rajya Sabha, she should get a ticket from BJP,” said AAP leader Dilip Pandey.

A few months ago, Maliwal accused Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar of assaulting her at the chief minister’s residence, leading to a public spat with the party. Kumar was recently granted bail by the Supreme Court in the case.