NEW DELHI: India’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was in the throes of an unlikely controversy on Wednesday, as Hindu extremists close to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked its offices over comments by a senior AAP leader who proposed that a law to give unbridled powers to the army in Kashmir be revoked.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal came out strongly against the attack on the party’s Kaushambi office saying the attackers can kill him if that solves the Kashmir issue.

He said: “If they think by killing me or Prashant Bhushan, the Kashmir issue will get resolved, then they should tell me the place and date when they want to kill me and I’ll go.”

“Do the attackers want to kill Prashant Bhushan? I have made our party’s stand on referendum clear. Even Bhushan said that his comments have been misinterpreted,” CNN-IBN news channel quoted him as saying.

AAP leader Prashant Bhushan has been demanding the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from Kashmir.

He blamed outfits affiliated to the BJP for the attack on AAP office on Wednesday. Bhushan said, “These are the same people who attacked me previously too. Vishnu Gupta is one of them while Tejinder Singh Bagga works for the BJP.” “It shows that BJP and RSS are frustrated by the emergence of AAP. It shows their character, that they are doing such activities…. This shows that these are communal violent people. They have opened up organisations which are meant for violence and hatred only,” he added.

Hindu Rakshak Dal (Defenders of Hindus Group) leader Pinky Choudhary has been detained for the attack on AAP office in Kaushambi. An FIR has been registered under sections 506, 436, 426, 504, 354, 153, 154 against the members of the outfit.

At least 30 to 40 people vandalised the AAP office, but no one was injured. The Hindu Rakshak Dal said the attack was prompted by the comments made by Bhushan on holding a referendum in Kashmir.

Dal activist Vishnu Gupta said that Bhushan was a “traitor” and his comments on withdrawal of the army from Jammu and Kashmir were “anti-national”.

“If such people are allowed to go scot-free for making such anti-national comments then our country will disintegrate. Withdrawing army from Kashmir means giving it away to Pakistan,” Gupta said.

The AAP had on Monday distanced itself from the views of Bhushan that a referendum should be carried out in Kashmir to decide on deployment of the army to deal with security threats in the valley.