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In wake of JNU violence, AAP may renew demand for full statehood for Delhi
New Delhi: A day after students and teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) were attacked by a mob on the university campus, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal
New Delhi: A day after students and teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) were attacked by a mob on the university campus, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal called a meeting of top leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at his residence to discuss the incident and plan the party’s strategy in the run-up to the Assembly polls in the city.
The polls are slated for February 8 and the results will be announced on February 11.
Two other senior AAP leaders who attended Monday’s meeting said it was also discussed that the AAP should keep its demand of full statehood for Delhi alive. “The Delhi Police’s role in the JNU incident, and the criticism it has drawn should actually help the cause,” said an AAP leader who did not wish to be identified.
While leaving the chief minister’s residence after the meeting, the AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said, “The assault on students and professors is really shameful. This is happening in the capital of India. The world is watching us. What message are we sending to the world? I demand that the Centre restores peace at the earliest.”
All three major political parties of Delhi — the AAP, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress — Monday condemned the incident.
When asked about Kejriwal’s absence from the JNU campus and AIIMS Trauma Centre, where several of the injured teachers and students were admitted, Singh and other senior functionaries of the AAP said it was a “law and order issue” and the chief minister did everything he could — from arranging ambulances to sending a senior party leader to the spot to take stock of the situation.
BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Goel Monday condemned the incident and said, “But what was there in the issue that warranted a meeting and drafting of strategies? If Kejriwal cared, he could have at least come to the hospital.”
The Congress condemned the incident, too, but accused Kejriwal of “shrugging responsibility”. The party’s Delhi unit chief Subhash Chopra said, “This violent incident has exposed that the BJP and the AAP are two sides of the same coin. They are politicising the issue. Kejriwal is the chief minister and he is shrugging responsibility.”
In one of his town hall meetings last week, Kejriwal had indicated that the party would include “full statehood” in its upcoming poll manifesto. Full statehood for Delhi was the AAP’s primary poll plank for the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, in which five of its seven candidates stood third in terms of vote share.
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