A former member of the Congress, Alka Lamba joined the Aam Aadmi Party in December 2013.
AAP MLA Alka Lamba is in the eye of the storm after an FIR was filed against her on the basis of a complaint by the owner of a sweet shop in Delhi. Lamba was injured when a stone was hurled at her while she was conducting an anti-drug campaign. CCTV footage shows her walking in with a group of people towards the counter and toppling a billing machine.
Who is Alka Lamba?
Born on 21 September 1975, Lamba was a member of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) in college. According to her bio on the NGO website 'Go India Foundation' (which was set up by her), Lamba joined politics when she was in her second year BSc course at the University of Delhi. She was also the President of the Delhi University Students Union and later on president of the All India NSUI. Lamba ran the NGO 'Go India Foundation' which made news in 2010 for a blood donation campaign that got 65,000 people to donate blood. This campaign was supported by Bollywood superstars including Salman Khan, Riteish Deshmukh and Dia Mirza.
In 2012, she was removed from the fact-finding team of the National Commission for Women (NCW) which was investigating the case of molestation of a 17-year-old in Guwahati, for accidentally making the victim's identity public.
Joining AAP
When she joined the AAP in December 2013, a lot of questions were raised because she had been vocally critical of the party in the past. Explaining her decision she had said, "I was extremely unhappy with Congress and was looking for an outlet. A senior AAP member approached me to contest from the party before the Delhi assembly election but I was not ready then. In fact, I did not want people to think that I moved to AAP only because Congress did not give me a ticket and I was disgruntled. The party's loss in four states in these elections and its miserable handling of the issue of giving support to AAP were the last straw for me.”
She had claimed that the Congress leaders had completely lost touch with reality and only a handful of them took decisions that are then passed down to others. She also said, “No leader in Congress is a Gandhian. I have been trying for three years to meet Rahul and Sonia Gandhi but they have refused to see me. I wanted to tell them that their system is in a mess, especially rules made by Rahul on giving tickets. They don't communicate with the cadre or the people, unlike AAP," she said. In the 2015 Delhi Elections, Alka Lamba won from Chandni Chowk, defeating her nearest rival, BJP's Suman Kumar Gupta by 18,287 votes.
The Sweet Shop Showdown
Her showdown at the sweet shop was allegedly part of an anti-drug drive. Alka was attacked with a stone in north Delhi's Kashmere Gate on Sunday and received a minor head injury. Lamba was quoted saying: “I reached the Hanuman Mandir near Kashmere Gate at around 5:30am and was talking to people sleeping there about the drive when a man came out and hurled a stone at me. It hit me on the head. The idea behind the attack was to scare the people and whoever attacked me succeeded as the people ran away from there.”
After the attack, she tweeted: “Nashe ke khilaf ladai ka anjaam... mujh par hamla kar mera sar faad diya, khoon behne ke baawjood bhi main maidan nahi chhodungi... August Kranti diwas.” AAP leader Ashutosh tweeted: “She was targeted as she was the only one who got hit in crowd. It's deep conspiracy. AAP will fight back.” Even AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal replied on Twitter: "Proud of you Alka."
However, the Delhi Police has filed a case of trespass against Lamba after complaints by shopkeepers in her constituency Chandni Chowk. The case was filed hours after CCTV footage from a sweet shop showed Lamba walking straight to the counter of a shop and toppling a billing machine. The man next to her then pushed everything off the table.
Alka apologised for her behaviour and told NDTV: “What I did was in a fit of anger, I should learn restraint from my leader Arvind Kejriwal. I am not afraid of jail...if I have done anything wrong, send me to Tihar." Meanwhile, a 19-year-old who allegedly threw the stone at her has been arrested, according to an NDTV report. Alka claims that BJP's OL Sharma told her that if she came back to the area, she would “go back on a stretcher”.
BJP's OP Sharma on the other hand said, "Whether she (Alka Lamba) is helping people fight addiction or is addicted herself is a matter of investigation. Whatever you see on the CCTV footage is not the action of a normal person. She took hooligans along.”
Alka's action was compared to former AAP law minister Somnath Bharti who was accused of vigilantism and racism when he, along with some AAP workers, raided homes rented by Africans and forced some women to give urine tests.
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