AAP is going pillar to post to mark protest against the arrest of its party leader and Delhi CM late Friday. It is also trying to gather the support of all allies of I.N.D.I.A. bloc to give the protest a nation-wide colour.
The Aam Admi Party (AAP) has outlined a series of protests in the national capital after the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, while the BJP is eyeing capitalising on this opportunity. The move is expected when the Lok Sabha elections are in the offing and Delhi Assembly elections scheduled for next year.
Gopal Rai, Delhi AAP convenor, stated in a press conference, ” With leaders from the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, we will stage a series of demonstrations and abstain from Holi festivities this year.” This decision comes in the wake of the arrest and subsequent remand until March 26 of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief, Arvind Kejriwal, by the Enforcement Directorate.
The protest plan, spanning four days, commenced on Saturday. It includes abstaining from Holi celebrations, staging protests against the BJP and Prime Minister Modi, and conducting an all-India sit-in protest. On March 24, Rai announced that effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be burned in protests across the country. On Holi, March 25, the AAP will boycott all celebrations. Instead, party members will go door-to-door, informing residents about the BJP’s alleged role in Kejriwal’s arrest, which they term a “murder of democracy.”
The final day of the protest, March 26, will see the AAP planning to surround PM Modi’s residence in a nationwide protest. Rai, discussing the final day of the protest plan, mentioned that a major all-India protest is scheduled for March 26, during which protestors plan to sit outside the PM’s residence.
Taking a dig at the arrest of Kejriwal at the party’s Holi Milan event, Manoj Tiwari said, ” This year, Holi celebrations have started early; after Kejriwal’s arrest, whenever I went on the roads, people were seen celebrating… bursting firecrackers and distributing sweets…
Today, the people of Delhi have many reasons to celebrate. With the elections nearing, they cannot wait to vote for the BJP again.” In response to AAP’s planning of running government from the jail, Tiwari commented that “gangs run from jail and not governments”.
It is speculated that the BJP is now taking this opportunity to further make aware the voters about the AAP government’s “misdeeds” and present itself as the alternative for the AAP and Congress in Delhi.