Cockroach effigy row: AAP files police complaint against BJP MLA, Kapil Mishra

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj announced on Tuesday that he has submitted a formal police complaint to Delhi Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu and the Delhi Police Commissioner against the organisers of the Shri Keshav Ramlila Committee in Pitampura, including its president and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ashok Goel, alongside Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra, regarding the proposed burning of a cockroach effigy on Dussehra.

In a statement shared on X, Bharadwaj accused the organisers of "deliberately hurting religious sentiments, altering sacred Hindu traditions and attempting to incite enmity between communities." He further demanded the prompt deletion of "offensive content" across digital media outlets, adding, "I have requested to register FIR, however, if it does not happen, we will move Court."

The legal complaint comes after the committee announced plans to set ablaze a 30-foot cockroach effigy alongside the traditional figures of Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and Meghnad during Vijayadashami to promote public sanitation awareness.

Craftsman Shahwez Khan, tasked with manufacturing the effigies, noted that his family has engaged in effigy construction across four generations. "We make effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and Meghnad. This year, there will be a new addition, an effigy of a cockroach," Khan stated. He explained that completing a single cockroach structure requires three to four days, whereas the primary figures of Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and Meghnad demand a full month of continuous labour.

Earlier, Ashok Goel Devaraha, president of the Shri Keshav Ramlila Committee and MLA for Model Town, explained that the addition was intended to emphasise the "need to eliminate filth" from domestic residences, local areas, and wider civic life.

Speaking on Thursday, Devaraha observed, "Well, the festival of Vijayadashami is celebrated with great enthusiasm across the entire country. It symbolises the triumph of truth over falsehood, good over evil, and righteousness (dharma) over unrighteousness (adharma). For thousands of years, we have been burning the effigies of Ravana, Meghnada, and Kumbhakarna; this conveys the message that, in the end, truth always prevails."

Justifying the introduction of a supplementary figure, he recalled that burning additional effigies to highlight pressing social topics has precedent in previous years.

"Keeping these principles in mind, we have also, in the past, burned effigies representing various afflictions plaguing our nation, such as Naxalism or terrorism. This year, our committee has decided to burn an effigy of a cockroach, a symbol of filth, at the Keshav Ramlila Committee grounds (NSP). Our goal is to eliminate filth from three areas: our homes, our immediate surroundings, and society at large," he explained.

He confirmed that the ceremonial burning would occur at the NSP grounds in Pitampura. "That is why, this year, the Keshav Ramlila Committee in Pitampura will be burning an effigy in the shape of a cockroach, representing filth," Devaraha added, describing the structure as "a 30-foot-tall effigy, shaped like a cockroach; it’s going to be quite a striking sight!"

When asked about selecting a cockroach to represent the issue, Devaraha reiterated that the objective was to highlight the necessity of purging filth from national and social environments.

ANI