New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday trained his guns on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that the party’s entire campaign in Delhi revolves around the ongoing anti-Citizensip (Amendment) Act protests in the Shaheen Bagh neighbourhood and expressed dismay over the saffron party’s attempts to portray him as “anti-Hindu”.
In a town hall address with Hindi news channel News18 India, Kejriwal identified himself as a “devout Hindu” when the anchor asked him a question on his religiosity.
“I don’t know why they (BJP) have been trying to portray me anti-Hindu. I am a devout Hindu and a follower of Hanuman,” the Delhi CM said.
Asked if he could recite the Hanuman Chalisa, Kejriwal sang a hymn.
In another town hall address with Hindi news channel News-24, Kejriwal said, “The BJP has designed its entire election campaign around the Shaheen Bagh protest. It is because they have no real issue for the Delhi elections… Hence, they are calling me a terrorist… It was the duty of the BJP leadership to talk to the protesters and get the road blockade cleared.”
When asked why he did not visit the Shaheen Bagh protest siite or the Jamia Millia and Jawaharlal Nehru University campuses after students were attacked, Kejrwal threw the ball on the other side of the court saying, “Law and order in Delhi comes under the Union government and it was the primary responsibility of Union home minister Amit Shah. I could not have done anything by physically going there.”
{{/usCountry}}When asked why he did not visit the Shaheen Bagh protest siite or the Jamia Millia and Jawaharlal Nehru University campuses after students were attacked, Kejrwal threw the ball on the other side of the court saying, “Law and order in Delhi comes under the Union government and it was the primary responsibility of Union home minister Amit Shah. I could not have done anything by physically going there.”
{{/usCountry}}When asked by the anchor, Kejriwal sang hymns from the Hanuman Chalisa once again.
Several streets of Delhi turned into a sea of white-and-blue as hundreds of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters joined Kejriwal in road shows organised in Dwarka, Palam, Kondli, Trilokpuri and Patparganj, where he stood in support of deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
While the chief minister did not speak at the road shows, his party supporters continued their door-to-door campaign taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over their West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma’s “terrrorist” remark targeting Kejriwal.
In his road shows, Kejriwal waved at people from the back of an open-roof vehicle, standing next to the party’s candidates from the respective constituencies – Vinay Mishra (Dwarka), Bhavna Gaur (Palam), Kuldeep Kumar (Kondli), Rohit Kumar Mehraulia (Trilokpuri) and Sisodia (Patparganj). Except Gaur and Sisodia, all other are fresh names in the party’s list of candidates for the 2020 assembly polls.
On Monday, the AAP released a video filming relatives of Delhi Police and Delhi Fire Services officials, who died in the line of duty, speaking in support of Kejriwal and condemning Verma’s remark.
Meanwhile, the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh upped his attack on the BJP challenging the party to get Kejriwal arrested if they could prove that he is a “terrorist”. Singh’s comments came after the BJP’s west Delhi MP Parvesh Verma called the CM a terrorist during the poll campaign – a remark that led to a crackdown by the election commission which imposed a temporary ban on Verma from campaigning.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar made a similar remark on Monday.
Singh further said that the party is likely to release its poll manifesto on Tuesday. The BJP and Congress have released their manifestos in the run-up to the February 8 assembly elections.
In the next three days, the party will conduct as many as 15,000 local meetings as part of its poll campaign even as the road shows and public addressed by top leaders will continue, Singh added. He further said, “Also, as part of the final phase of the campaign, 5,000 volunteers will be deployed in each of Delhi’s 70 constituencies and they will individually reach out to at least three persons who had voted for the BJP in the general elections.”
INSET: AAP FILES COMPLAINT WITH EC
New Delhi: The AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Monday said that he met chief election commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora and complained to him against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing its top leaders of contributing to a disturbed atmosphere in the Capital ahead of the February 8 assembly elections.
The BJP hit back saying that the AAP is using tactics to stop the party from fielding strong campaigners in the city.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Singh said that he complained about Union minister Prakash Javadekar and West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma for calling Kejriwal a terrorist, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath for drawing comparisons between the CM and Pakistani leaders and BJP leader Anantkumar Hegde for his remarks questioning the role of Mahatma Gandhi in India’s freedom struggle.
“I have demand that the CEC should take action in each of these cases as they violate the model code of conduct. The CEC should also direct the police to register FIR against the leaders and ban them from campaigning,” said Singh.
Senior BJP leader and the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Goel said, “Kejriwal can foresee his defeat and so he is using such tactics to stop our strong campaigners. The EC is capable of taking up such cases suo moto. The weak leadership of the AAP should focus on their own public meetings and campaigns.”