AAP organises walkathon at Rajinder Nagar

Members of the AAP youth wing carried blue and yellow flags of the party and cutouts of AAP chief Kejriwal

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday morning organised a walkathon, “Jail ka Jawab Vote se”, at Rajinder Nagar in central Delhi to rally support for chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.

AAP leaders Saurabh Bharadwaj, Somnath Bharti, Durgesh Pathak and Mayor Shelly Oberoi take part in the walkathon at Rajendra Nagar on Sunday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

The AAP candidate from the New Delhi seat, Somnath Bharti, along with Delhi cabinet ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj, Gopal Rai, MP Sanjay Singh, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi and several other MLAs walked with hundreds of party workers wearing yellow T-shirts displaying images of the jailed CM and the slogan, “Jail Ka Jawab Vote Se”, on them.

As they marched through the streets of the Capital, the participants raised slogans of “Jail ka Jawab Vote Se”, “Arvind Kejriwal Zindabad,” “Bharat Mata Ki Jai,” and “Vande Mataram”. Members of the AAP youth wing carried blue and yellow flags of the party and cutouts of AAP chief Kejriwal.

The party also installed a large symbolic “BJP washing machine” model into which a “corrupt leader” could enter and come out clean with all allegations removed, said Bhardwaj. “We are highlighting how all the sins of the corrupt are washed away after they join BJP,” he added, and took a dig at several BJP leaders, including Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sharma and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar Faction) leader Ajit Pawar. Workers posing as such leaders entered the washing machine model and came out wearing with saffron T-shirts.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said that a walkathon was a way to convey message to the people. “We are approaching the public and telling them how after 2014, this washing machine is washing away the corruption stains of corrupt people across the country after they collaborate with the BJP, gain its support, and become ministers,” he added. Singh also made scathing remarks on electoral bonds. “The way the Delhi CM has been wrongfully jailed, the people of Delhi will respond to it by voting (AAP) and all the seven seats in Delhi will go to the INDIA bloc,” Singh added.

AAP Delhi state convener Gopal Rai said that the BJP has thrown Kejriwal, who was elected with a thumping majority, in jail in the middle of elections without any evidence. “There is a lot of anger among the people of Delhi against the arrest. The people of Delhi are asking that why instead of seeking votes on the basis of his work, the BJP put a working CM in jail. A voice in unison is being raised from every corner of Delhi that this dictatorship of the BJP has to be removed.”

Mayor Oberoi said that the AAP is a party of educated leaders. “We are talking to the voters of Delhi about the power of their vote through the walkathon. BJP is running the government in a dictatorial manner, which is a threat to democracy and the Constitution. Now there is a need to save the country.”

BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that before pointing fingers at others, it would be better if the AAP leaders tell the people of Delhi why Kejriwal could not manage to get bail from any court and “why he has become a part of the INDIA bloc with the leaders who are in the bail train”. When leaders such as Sanjay Singh, who is out on bail, speak on corruption, it appears very ridiculous and it is because of such leaders that the political system is losing its credibility, he added.

Kapoor said, ”Now, no matter how many statements that the ’AAP’ leaders make, all the seven candidates of the INDIA bloc will lose the elections by lakhs of votes.”