Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s affinity for theatrics is well known to the people of Delhi more often than not getting a taste of Kejriwal’s theatrics. On a day where protesters against the farm laws announced a Bharat Bandh, any limelight coming the way of Kejriwal was likely to be the bare minimum. Hence, the ‘AAP School of Drama’ came up with a clever statement that “Kejriwal is under house arrest”, hoping that its latest offering will grab the national headlines.
Unfortunately, the claim was quickly busted with AAP and Kejriwal ending up with egg on their faces. Apart from his usual theatrics, Kejriwal’s incessant demand for full statehood of Delhi is also well known and it will be no surprise if, in the coming weeks, Kejriwal uses his “house arrest” to rake up the issue of statehood and hence, bring Delhi Police under the ambit of the Aam Aadmi Party government.
So, it’s another day, another drama by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP government. On the day when India was supposed to be shut down due to the call of ‘Bharat Bandh’ by protesting farmers and the opposition parties, the nation woke up to the news of AAP claiming that Kejriwal was under house arrest.
AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj, infamous for his ‘EVMs can be hacked’ claim, addressed a news conference on Tuesday morning where he said, “After CM’s return from the Singhu Border, the Delhi Police barricaded his residence from all sides, putting him in a house-arrest like situation, at the behest of Home Ministry.”
Bharadwaj also claimed that that the Delhi Police not only denied entry to a section of the AAP MLAs who wanted to enter the CM residence for a meeting on Monday but also thrashed them. This was followed by Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia staging a sit-in protest outside the CM residence alleging that Kejriwal has been placed under house arrest. Sisodia was joined by a bunch of AAP workers who then spent rest of the day sloganeering.
“CM stopped them from converting the stadiums into jails. That’s why they have converted the CM’s house into a jail. Can a common person not meet the CM? Will the police give permission to meet the CM?” claimed Sisodia. He added, “Delhi Police officials are saying that he is not under arrest. So, they should let us go. Why are they not letting us go?”
The allegations were quickly rubbished by the Delhi Police as in a press briefing, The Special Commissioner of Police, Satish Golcha said, “I would like to clarify that these claims are totally baseless and unfounded. There’s absolutely no restriction. The CM has been making usual engagements and he has been moving out of his residence for any engagement whatsoever.”
Even Anto Alphonse – the DCP of North Delhi said, “Our forces have been deployed at the CM’s residence to avoid any clashes between AAP and any other parties. He is not under house arrest. CM Kejriwal had left his residence at 8 pm on Monday and returned around 10 pm. There was no problem.”
The theatrics turned into a major embarrassment for the AAP as Republic TV debunked the claims of house arrest as it accessed footage where Kejriwal was moving at free will as he was spotted arriving for a function at a hotel on Monday evening.
Perhaps the claims of house arrest was a part of a broad plan to again rake the issue of full statehood for Delhi which would result in the Delhi Police coming under the ambit of the Kejriwal-led AAP government. It will not be surprising if the AAP comes up with another set of theatrics in the coming weeks under the garb of demanding full statehood for Delhi.
The Mumbai Police is not under the control of Central Home ministry and only because of this the Mumbai has become the capital of Global Liberal underworld. The investigation on the 26/11 terror strike is not complete. The former Delhi Police chief Bassi once said, “Capital’s residents are lucky AAP doesn’t control his force”.