NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday slammed the Centre over the security crackdown in central Delhi ahead of the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) planned protest at Jantar Mantar, calling the situation “worse than the Emergency”.Reacting to the detention of CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka shortly after they arrived at Delhi airport from Mumbai, Kejriwal said the action showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “afraid of the protest.”“This is worse than the Emergency. It’s official… We are living under an absolute dictatorship ruled by Modi. Arresting cockroaches straight off their flight shows an unprecedented level of fear,” Kejriwal said in a post on X.“PM Modi clearly knows he only won the election through vote chori and now he is hell-bent on protecting his fraud by completely crushing democracy. Gyanesh must go, but so must Modi,” he added.The CJP had planned the demonstration to demand the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
AAP alleges Kejriwal’s residence turned into fortress
The AAP on Saturday alleged that Delhi Police had turned Kejriwal’s residence into a fortress ahead of the CJP protest.On Friday, Kejriwal had said that he and his family would attend the demonstration. He also urged young people to join the protest, which seeks Kumar’s resignation over allegations of “vote theft”.However, the detention of CJP’s key organisers and the extensive security deployment across the capital cast uncertainty over the planned mobilisation.
BJP accuses Rahul Gandhi, Kejriwal’s associates of trying to destabilise country
Earlier, BJP president Nitin Nabin alleged that two groups, one led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and another comprising associates of Kejriwal under the CJP banner, were attempting to create instability in the country.“Today, an attempt is being made to create a highly dangerous and serious situation in the country. Efforts are underway to destabilise the nation, where 1.4 billion people are living in peace and harmony, contributing collectively to India’s development. Who is doing this? Two anarchic groups: one led by Rahul Gandhi of the ‘INDI Alliance’, and the other led by Arvind Kejriwal’s associates, CJP,” Nabin said.
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The BJP also hit back at Kejriwal over his allegations of electoral fraud. A party spokesperson asked the AAP leader to stop making such claims and referred to a Supreme Court decision cancelling elections to 50 municipal wards in Punjab, alleging that the AAP had rigged the process and prevented opposition candidates from filing nominations.“Stop this non sense Mr Kejriwal!” the spokesperson said, before asking Kejriwal to seek the resignation of Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann.The political sparring came amid heightened security in Delhi for the CJP’s planned ‘Jantar Mantar 2.0’ demonstration against the SIR exercise and CEC Gyanesh Kumar.