I.N.D.I.A. bloc protests CM Kejriwal's incarceration in Delhi; Rahul, Kharge skip

New Delhi: I.N.D.I.A. bloc parties on Tuesday came out in support of jailed AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal at a protest meet that also exposed the fault lines of the coalition in Delhi, as top Congress leaders kept away owing to both parties fighting against each other in the upcoming Assembly polls.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi were in Delhi but the party chose to sent its deputy leaders Pramod Tewari (Rajya Sabha) and Gaurav Gogoi (Lok Sabha) to the protest venue to pledge the party’s support in the fight for Kejriwal.

However, Delhi Congress leaders and workers were absent at Jantar Mantar here where workers of other parties like Samajwadi Party and the Left joined the protest. Top Opposition leaders like Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP), Sitaram Yechury (CPIM) and D Raja (CPI) attended the event.

Derek O’Brien (Trinamool Congress), Dipankar Bhattarcharya (CPI(ML)), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena-UBT), G Devarajan (Forward Bloc), Tiruchi Siva (DMK) and Manoj K Jha (RJD) were also present at the joint protest against the ill treatment of Kejriwal in jail and demanding his release.

Though Congress and AAP fought the Lok Sabha elections together, they had decided to fight the Assembly polls separately. Delhi Congress leaders have started a campaign against the AAP and are organising protests against the Kejriwal government.

As their presence would create trouble for the local unit in the run up to the Assembly polls, sources said the Congress top leaders decided to skip the event. However, senior leaders were sent to the protest to express solidarity on the “limited issue of Kejriwal’s incarceration” so that the cohesion in I.N.D.I.A. is not impacted.

At the venue, Tewari said Kejriwal has all support from Kharge, Rahul, Sonia Gandhi and all Congress workers while calling the Delhi Chief Minister’s arrest as illegal. “The BJP is scared of Kejriwal…We oppose his arrest,” he said.

Gogoi said the prime minister who claims to have a “56-inch chest” is hiding behind the Enforcement Directorate to target Kejriwal and if someone is scared, it is the BJP.

From Congress to other Opposition parties, almost all leaders predicted that the Modi government is on a “shaky” wicket and all I.N.D.I.A. parties should remain united and fight against the BJP.

Yadav said that people are very strong to give a reply to the ruling BJP while Yechury said the BJP wants Kejriwal to leave politics. “We need to democratically weaken the BJP government,” Yechury said while Jha asked people to prepare for a long battle.

SP’s Ramgopal Yadav said the government will fall in one year. Raut warned the BJP that they would lose power and then they would show what ED can do. Raja said the BJP government would be thrown out of power soon. Kejriwal’s wife Sunita also addressed the meeting.