New Delhi/Gandhinagar: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said he would personally visit the Intelligence Bureau (IB) office in Gujarat to seek answers over alleged verification calls being made to party workers, as the party accused central agencies of targeting its workers in the state.
The controversy began after AAP Gujarat co-incharge Durgesh Pathak claimed on the social media platform X that one of the party’s workers in Gujarat had been receiving repeated calls from a mobile number allegedly claiming to be from the IB.
“Just a short while ago, one of our workers working in Gujarat received repeated calls. The caller said he was speaking from the IB and asked the worker to come for verification,” Pathak said.
Questioning the basis of such alleged verification, Pathak asked whether the number genuinely belonged to the IB and, if so, under which law a citizen travelling from one state to another for work was required to register with the agency.
Speaking to IANS, Pathak alleged that similar calls had been made to a large number of party workers over the past few weeks.
“Around 100 party workers had received calls allegedly from the IB and the Crime Branch asking them to register themselves over the last 15 to 20 days,” he claimed.
Pathak further alleged that some workers who had responded to the calls and gone to the office were informally threatened.
He said the latest case involved a party worker from another state who is currently working in Vadodara and had allegedly received calls from the same number. “We thought this would stop after the local body elections, but it has not,” Pathak told IANS.
Reacting to Pathak’s post, Kejriwal said he had personally dialled the number in question and spoken to the caller. “This is a very serious matter. I called this number and asked, ‘Are you speaking from the IB?’ He said, ‘Yes,” Kejriwal said.
“I then said, ‘I am Arvind Kejriwal speaking. Under which law are you carrying out this verification?’ He disconnected the call. Since then, he has not been answering the phone,” he added.
Kejriwal said the IB should publicly clarify whether the number was its own. He also claimed that AAP workers frequently received such calls and urged people to question the legal basis for the alleged verification process.
“All of you should also call this number and ask under which law a citizen traveling from one state to another for work is required to get verification done with the IB,” he said.
Kejriwal further said that during his next visit to Gujarat, he would personally visit the IB office to seek clarification. “The next time I go to Gujarat, I will go to the IB office myself and ask them,” he said.
He also urged party workers in Gujarat to place details of any future calls allegedly received from the IB in the public domain through social media so that people could question the agency directly.
The Bureau and Gujarat Police had not issued any official statement on the allegations.
(IANS)
