It was a contest of protests on the streets of Delhi on Tuesday as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held demonstrations across.
The national capital – the former agitating against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest and the latter calling for his resignation – a day before the Delhi high court is scheduled to hear a plea in the matter.
Punjab education minister Harjot Bains, Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Malviya Nagar legislator Somnath Bharti, and deputy speaker of the Delhi assembly Rakhi Birla were among those detained by Delhi Police on Tuesday morning at Patel Chowk Metro station.
AAP called for a march from Patel Chowk Metro station to the Prime Minister’s house (7, Lok Kalyan Marg) to protest Kejriwal’s arrest in connection with alleged irregularities and kickbacks related to Delhi’s now-scrapped excise policy for liquor. The police said Section 144 was in force in the entire New Delhi district and detained those who gathered.
“It is surprising that peaceful AAP protesters, including our female supporters, were detained from the station itself but there was no restriction on BJP’s protest in Delhi. This is not just a bias but murder of democracy in the country,” said Bharti.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva and several party leaders were detained during a protest march they held near the Delhi Secretariat, demanding the resignation of Kejriwal, who has said he will continue to run Delhi from prison. Police used water cannons against the BJP leaders when they broke a barricade and ran towards the building .
The BJP’s protest took place on Tuesday morning around the same time as AAP’s protest.
AAP supporters started gathering at the Metro station around 10am on Tuesday but none of the senior AAP leaders or ministers from Delhi cabinet made it to the protest site.
The station gates on one side of Patel Chowk station were shut during the morning hours, though movement to and from the station was allowed on the other side of the road. As the crowd started moving from the station , police stopped them.
“We are all Kejriwal, and the police are detaining us just as they arrested the CM. There is no case and no proof against him. He has only given better facilities to the people of Delhi,” said Archana Sharma an AAP worker from Sangam Vihar,
Security was tightened across parts of the New Delhi area on Tuesday morning and the detained workers were taken to various police stations in five buses.
Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Devesh Kumar Mahla said that protesters were detained and released by evening.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said that the Lok Kalyan Marg Metro station was closed, with no trains halting there.
Protesting BJP leaders alleged that Kejriwal does not practice what he preaches and is greedy for power. “Arvind Kejriwal government is now a totally illegal government. The way Kejriwal is insisting on continuing as CM from jail reflects that he considers the party and the government (AAP Delhi govt) his personal fiefdom. Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren resigned after being arrested, Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa resigned after being arrested on corruption charges. Internationally we have examples of Prime Ministers of various countries like Japan, Italy and Pakistan resigning when accused of corruption,” Sachdeva said.
Sachdeva and other detained BJP workers were taken to Kamla Market Police Station in buses.
BJP national secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa, MP Harshvardhan, Manoj Tiwari, leader of Opposition and south Delhi Lok Sabha candidate Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, along with several other BJP candidates for the upcoming elections joined the party’s protest.
“Sooner or later Kejriwal will have to accept reality and resign. Even his jailed former ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain are wondering that if Kejriwal can run government from jail, why he asked them to resign when they were arrested,” said Sachdeva.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Vijender Gupta on Tuesday claimed that Sunita Kejriwal, wife of Delhi CM, delivered a statement from Kejriwal in a setting that strikingly resembled the official backdrop used by the CM for addressing media and making public announcements. “The setting she used included the prominent display of India’s national flag on either side of her, a symbolism reserved for official communications from the CM’s office. The visual arrangement led to perceptions of an unofficial assumption of the voice and authority of the CM during his absence,” said Gupta in a press release.
Gupta claimed that it was a misuse of CM’s office and a disregard for the sanctity of constitutional positions.
AAP said the arrest will not stop the CM from working for the people, and called the case against him “fake”.
“After illegally arresting CM Kejriwal in a fake case, BJP now doesn’t want him to serve the people of Delhi. BJP can file another 1,000 cases but that won’t stop CM Kejriwal from working for the people of Delhi,” the party said in a statement.
The high court will hear the petition against Kejriwal’s arrest on Wednesday. Kejriwal’s petition, which has sought his immediate release on account of the arrest and the subsequent remand being “illegal”, is listed for hearing before justice Swarana Kanta Sharma at 10.30am.