The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged demonstrations in central Delhi on Friday, turning the city’s busy Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg into a protest battleground.
While AAP workers accused the BJP of rigging the recent Chandigarh mayoral election, those from the BJP hit out at AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over alleged corruption in the Delhi government.
In view of the protests, the police ramped up security across the district. They also said that nearly 150 workers of AAP and 60 from the BJP were detained around 1.45 p.m., taken to separate police stations, and released after a few hours.
On January 30, BJP’s candidate, Manoj Sonkar, won the post of Chandigarh’s Mayor by securing 16 votes in the 35-member municipal corporation, while the candidate fielded jointly by AAP and Congress, Kuldeep Kumar, got 12 votes. The AAP-Congress combine accused the presiding officer of tampering with the ballot papers.
‘Only power important’
Addressing AAP workers protesting against the election, Mr. Kejriwal said that “the world’s biggest party [BJP] had been caught on camera stealing votes”.
“It is clear that for the BJP, only power is important. We never know what can happen with our votes. You can vote for one party, but it will register in another’s name. Anyone’s name can be deleted from the voters’ list, and games can be played with India’s democracy,” the AAP chief said.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who was also present at the spot, said, “It will be written in the history books that when democracy was in danger, people gathered outside the AAP office to provide oxygen to it.”
At a press conference, AAP MLA Gopal Rai accused the police of placing some senior party leaders in house arrest, including Speaker Ram Niwas Goel and Delhi Deputy Mayor Aaley Mohammad Iqbal, to prevent them from participating in the protest.
At the BJP’s protest against Mr. Kejriwal, the party’s Delhi unit president, Virendra Sachdeva, hit out at the AAP chief for skipping the summons by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
‘Theft committed’
Mr. Sachdeva said the CM not appearing before the ED for questioning in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy was “testimony to the fact that he has committed theft”.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said that Mr. Kejriwal will soon land in jail, just like his deputy Manish Sisodia and former Delhi Minister Satyendra Jain.
Traffic hit
The heavy security deployment by the police prevented the BJP and AAP workers from marching towards each other’s headquarters. However, it affected movement in several parts of the city, with bumper-to-bumper traffic seen on NH-24.
Traffic jams were seen near India Gate, Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, and Minto Road near Connaught Place. A senior officer said several layers of barricades and nearly 1,000 personnel were deployed around ITO and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg.
“Two companies of paramilitary comprising women staff and personnel from the police’s armed unit were deployed at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg with anti-riot gear and batons,” he added.
Regarding AAP’s allegation that some of its leaders were placed under house arrest, the police denied the charges.
