AAP says Arvind Kejriwal under house arrest, Delhi Police refutes claim

Minutes after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was put under house arrest after his visit to the farmers protesting the three central

Minutes after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was put under house arrest after his visit to the farmers protesting the three central farm laws at the national capital’s Singhu border on Monday, Delhi Police refuted the charges on Tuesday.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Delhi Transport minister Kailash Gahlot meet farmers at Delhi Tourism's Guru Teg Bahadur Memorial during ongoing protest against the new farm laws at Singhu Border in New Delhi on Monday. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

“BJP’s Delhi Police has put Hon’ble CM Shri @ArvindKejriwal under house arrest ever since he visited farmers at Singhu Border yesterday. No one has been permitted to leave or enter his residence,” the ruling party wrote on Twitter.

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The police also took to Twitter to say that Kejriwal exercises his right to free movement within the law of the land and shared a photograph of the entrance of the chief minister’s house.

“The CM met farmers at Singhu border yesterday. He had said that we will serve them like sevadars (those who serve others)and support them. After he returned, Delhi Police barricaded his residence from all sides, putting him in a house-arrest like situation, at the behest of the home ministry,” AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a brief media address.

Soon after the party’s tweet, ministers in Kejriwal’s cabinet also took to the social media site to criticise the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre. “Delhi chief minister @ArvindKejriwal’s house arrest means that the BJP government wants to stop every voice that is in support of farmers,” health minister Satyendar Jain tweeted in Hindi with the hashtag #BJPHouseArrestsKejriwal. In another tweet in Hindi, the AAP’s Sanjay Singh said, “Soon after Arvind Kejriwal returned home after meeting protesting farmers at the Singhu border, he was put under house arrest on orders of Union home minister Amit Shah so that he cannot come out of his house to back the bandh call.”

The AAP also referred to Kejriwal’s refusal to turn the city’s nine stadiums into detention centres for farmers last month when the protests began. “The Kejriwal that stopped the stadium from becoming jails, today the BJP has made the same Kejriwal’s house a prison,” the AAP tweeted in Hindi.

The Twitter attack by the Delhi’s ruling party comes a day after the chief minister and national AAP convenor interacted with some of the protesting farmers and also inspected the arrangements made by the city administration for them at the Singhu border.

“I have not come here as the chief minister. I have come here as a sevadar. We support all demands of the farmers. Their issue and demands are valid. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and I have stood in support of the farmers right from the start,” Kejriwal told reporters during his visit.

Thousands of farmers, who have been protesting at Delhi borders since November 26 against three farm legislation enacted by the government during the monsoon session of Parliament, have called for a four-hour symbolic nationwide strike and the AAP is among several other opposition parties, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena and NCP, supporting the Bharat Bandh call.