Arvind Kejriwal to visit Meerut, address ‘kisan mahapanchayat’ on February 28

The Delhi CM, who also heads the AAP, will join a list of political leaders who have addressed the mahapanchayats.

After Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) Jayant Chaudhary, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will address a ‘kisan mahapanchayat’ or a farmers' meeting amid the ongoing protests by agriculturists against the three contentious farm laws. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh tweeted on Monday saying that party chief Kejriwal will address the mahapanchayat in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut on February 28.

“A workers’ meeting of the party will take place in Meerut on February 28. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will address farmers through a kisan mahapanchayat. Voices will be raised for farmers from Meerut, which is the land on which the revolution of 1857 took place,” Singh tweeted in Hindi, with the hashtag ‘kaala kanoon vapas lo’ (repeal the black laws).

The mahapanchayat will mark yet another outreach towards the farmers from Kejriwal and the AAP, who have publicly expressed their support for the protests, as well as opposition to the three legislation, which were passed Parliament in September last year. In Delhi, where farmers have been protesting since November last year, the AAP has been providing free internet connection and water at the protest sites. At a special one-day session of the Delhi assembly in December, Kejriwal and AAP MLAs tore copies of the laws. In the initial days of the protest, the Kejriwal government had denied permission to the Delhi Police to convert city grounds into temporary prisons; the police ostensibly wanted to detain thousands of farmers who were marching to the capital city.

On Monday, Kejriwal also expressed support for Bengaluru-based climate activist Disha Ravi, who was arrested by the Delhi Police on Sunday in connection with a toolkit tweeted by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who is among the international celebrities to have spoken out on the anti-farm law protests.

After the violence in Delhi on Republic Day, when protesting farmers clashed with the police, several politicians have visited the protest sites, while others have addressed mahapanchayats. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra addressed farmers in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor on Monday.