Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and workers are observing a ‘samuhik upwas’ (mass) fasting to protest against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister and party national convener Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi liquor policy on Sunday. The Delhi ruling party held an agitation at Jantar Mantar.
While AAP ministers, including Atishi, gathered at Jantar Mantar for the fast, protests were being held in other states too. AAP leaders, including Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, Deputy Speaker Rakhi Bila, ministers Atishi, Gopal Rai and Imran Hussain attended the day-long ‘Samuhik Upwas’ at Jantar Mantar in the national capital from 11 am.
Atishi, who arrived at the Jantar Mantar, told reporters that the people of Delhi wanted Kejriwal’s release. “People of Delhi love Arvind Kejriwal. They don’t think of him as a chief minister but as their son, or brother. They want Kejriwal to be out on bail,” she said.
Delhi Minister Gopal Rai said, “Ever since Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested, there has been anger against it in the entire country. From the day of arrest on March 21 to till now, people are on the streets, getting themselves arrested even today, people across the country and the world are observing a mass fast for Kejriwal.”
Meanwhile, the AAP asked party workers to post their photos while observing fasts on a website and also post on X. “Today from 10 AM onwards, the entire nation will observe a fast against the conspiratorial arrest of @ArvindKejriwal ji. Send us your photos and messages while fasting on this website – kejriwalkoaashirvaad.com. Do not forget to tag us with the photos of your fast on Twitter. Dictatorship will lose, democracy will win,” the post read.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann joined a collective fast at freedom fighter Bhagat Singh’s village Khatkar Kalan. He paid tributes to the freedom fighter before embarking on the fast.
Protests were being held by Indians abroad too, including at Harvard Square in Boston, the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles, outside the Indian Embassy in Washington DC, in New York Times Square and Toronto, London and Melbourne among others, party leaders said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi unit of the BJP countered the fast by holding a ‘Sharab sheesh mahal’ campaign. BJP Delhi president Virendraa Sachdeva told reporters that the campaign aimed at “unveiling the corruption model of Kejriwal.”
