Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Sunday attacked the BJP after a video appeared to show Delhi PWD Minister Parvesh Verma slapping a man during a road inspection, saying the episode reflected the “face of a power that no longer fears the voters”. The incident triggered a political row, with the Congress and AAP targeting Verma while the minister maintained that he had reacted after being abused during the inspection.
In the video circulating on social media, Verma is seen confronting a man who was recording the inspection before appearing to slap him. The incident occurred during an inspection of road work in west Delhi, where AAP MLA Jarnail Singh and his supporters had gathered and raised questions over the quality of the construction.
Rahul attacks BJP
Sharing the video, Gandhi questioned the conduct of the Delhi minister and said the man had merely been recording what was happening at the site. He accused the BJP of displaying arrogance towards citizens and argued that those in power should remain accountable to voters.
“A BJP minister from the Delhi government is seen slapping a young man in a video. His crime? He was making a video. A road was being dug up right in front of the minister, and he had a camera in his hand. This is the face of a power that no longer fears the voters,” Gandhi said in a post on X.
The Congress leader’s intervention came after the AAP had already targeted Verma over the incident. The opposition parties have questioned the minister’s conduct and demanded accountability over the confrontation.
Verma hits back
Responding to Gandhi, Verma dismissed the Congress leader’s criticism and said he was unaware of the circumstances that had led to the confrontation. “Rahul ji, aap rehne do bhai, aapko kuch nhi pata (Rahul ji, you just stay out of it, brother, you don’t know anything),” Verma said.
Verma has claimed that the video did not show the complete sequence of events and alleged that the man involved, identified as Saheb Singh, had abused his family during the inspection. The Delhi BJP has expressed regret over the incident while alleging that Verma had been deliberately provoked by AAP workers accompanying Jarnail Singh.
Delhi BJP media head Praveen Shankar Kapoor said what happened was wrong and that the party regretted it. He, however, alleged that Jarnail Singh arrived at the inspection with around 50 AAP workers and accused them of behaving in an “indecent and uncivilised manner”.
AAP contests minister’s version
Saheb Singh has denied the allegation that he abused Verma or his family. The AAP has maintained that its representatives were questioning the quality of the road work when the confrontation took place and has accused the minister of assaulting Singh for recording the inspection.
The BJP, meanwhile, has alleged that Saheb Singh is a “habitual offender” and claimed that he had previously been arrested in connection with a case involving the assault of an MCD employee. The allegation has become part of the BJP’s defence of the circumstances surrounding the confrontation, although the party has maintained that the act of slapping him was wrong.
The BJP has also accused Jarnail Singh of deliberately escalating the situation. Kapoor claimed the AAP MLA had been raising complaints about the contractor responsible for the road work and had been seeking a meeting with Verma before the inspection.
Road work sparks row
According to the BJP’s account, Verma decided to inspect the site after concerns over the road work came to his attention and contacted Jarnail Singh while proceeding towards Vikaspuri. The party alleged that Singh subsequently arrived with dozens of supporters and that heated exchanges followed at the site.
The AAP has disputed that version and maintained that the issue centred on the quality of the newly constructed road. Its leaders have argued that questions over public works cannot justify physical aggression against a person recording an elected representative or minister.
The confrontation has since widened beyond the original dispute over the road, with Gandhi’s intervention adding another political dimension to the controversy. While the BJP has acknowledged that Verma should not have slapped the man, it has continued to stress its allegations of provocation, while the AAP and Congress have focused their attack on the minister’s conduct.