AAP Questions BJP’s Anti-Drug Claims After Hookah Is Served at Parvesh Verma’s Party

A political controversy has erupted between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after photographs emerged showing hookahs being served at a Diwali gathering hosted by Delhi Minister Parvesh Verma.
 

AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned the event, which was attended by journalist Sudhir Chaudhary. He raised concerns over whether a government bungalow and public funds had been used to organise the party.
 

Taking a dig at the BJP’s claims of working towards a drug-free Punjab, the AAP alleged that the party’s actions contradicted its stated position. The party remarked that while Chief Minister Rekha Gupta was selling liquor online, a minister was serving what it described as intoxicating substances at a social gathering.
 

The BJP, meanwhile, came out in support of Verma. Party spokespersons Ajay Sehrawat and Praveen Shankar Kapoor described the hookah as an important part of the cultural identity of the Jat community, as well as a symbol of traditional panchayat practices and social unity.
 

They clarified that the hookah served at the gathering was the traditional type commonly used at village community meeting places, or chaupals. According to them, it contained only a negligible quantity of tobacco and was different from the hookahs served at prohibited hookah bars.
 

The controversy has also brought the issue of Delhi’s 2017 ban on hookah bars back into focus. The then AAP government had imposed a complete ban on hookah bars in the city.
 

However, the Delhi High Court subsequently granted interim relief in 2019 and 2021, allowing the serving of nicotine-free herbal hookahs.
 

Under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003, smoking is prohibited in public places. The distinction between tobacco-based and herbal hookahs has therefore remained a key point in the legal debate surrounding their use.