INDIA bloc leaders gather at Jantar Mantar, demand release of Delhi CM Kejriwal
New Delhi (PTI): INDIA bloc leaders gathered at Jantar Mantar here on Tuesday to demand the release of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal amid his declining health and hit out at the BJP-led Centre for "suppressing" the voice of opposition.
They also blamed the Centre for obstructing the work of the Delhi government, therefore leading to the recent incident in Rajinder Nagar where three students died after getting trapped in a flooded basement of a coaching centre.
Slogans of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "End dictatorship" were raised during the protest rally called by the AAP.
CPI(ML) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharya said three senior AAP leaders -- Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain were put in jail as "part of a conspiracy".
He also accused the Centre of obstructing the work of the Delhi government, and held them responsible for the situation in the national capital, including the Rajinder Nagar coaching centre deaths.
"The Modi government is responsible for the anarchy in Delhi. This anarchy took the lives of the three UPSC aspirants in Rajinder Nagar. BJP took the lives of three UPSC aspirants," Bhattacharya said during the rally.
"They tried to end AAP, weaken Delhi government as part of a conspiracy. The elected chief minister is in jail. Umar Khalid and many activists are in jail in false charges in Delhi riots. Bhima Koregaon fake case, father Stan Swamy was in jail and he even died while in custody. There is a huge conspiracy against leaders, activists,” he said.
The BJP-led Centre is “trying to suppress the voice of those who oppose them", he said.
"Six months ago when Arvind ji, Hemant ji were arrested, we knew it was a conspiracy because Lok Sabha elections were there,” he said.
"Hemant ji came out, there was an appeal to stop his bail but it was dismissed. Kejriwal ji was released for less than a month. Now though he has been given a bail there is a conspiracy to keep him in jail,” he said.
“It is a conspiracy to finish a democratically elected government and a political party,” Bhattacharya said, urging the people to give their reply to the BJP in upcoming assembly polls in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand by defeating the BJP.
“The recent mandate has proved that people won't tolerate tyranny. We will ensure justice,"he added.
Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja also demanded the immediate release of the Delhi chief minister, and expressed concerns about his health.
“After BJP's coming to power, democracy is no longer 'for' the people, democracy is 'far' from people, democracy is not 'of' the people, it is 'off' the people, and it is not 'by' the people, it is 'buy' the people,” Raja said.
"Kejriwal is one of the victims of the central agencies used by the Modi government. Can we allow this? How much longer can we tolerate this situation in the country. Kejriwal is not well and his health has deteriorated,” he said.
AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai said Kejriwal's sugar levels are going down in custody.
"He was granted bail by trial court and Supreme Court but a conspiracy was hatched to keep him in jail. Why does BJP want to put opposition leaders in jail? Who is responsible for the deaths of the three UPSC aspirants?” Rai said.
"When LG is being asked about the incident, he is quiet. The BJP, which is demanding Kejriwal's resignation, snatched away the powers of the Delhi government. They want rights but run away when they are held accountable," he charged.
has been accusing the BJP of “conspiring to kill” Kejriwal in jail and cited his medical report to show that his sugar levels have fallen 34 times between June 3 and July 7.
Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) chief Sharad Pawar and Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi are also present in the INDIA bloc rally.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari referred to Kejriwal's wife Sunita as a "symbol of resistance" as he began his address.
"We have come to give complete moral support to AAP and Kejriwal on behalf of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the struggle against illegal arrest of Arvind Kejriwal. The arrest of Kejriwal in an illegal and unconstitutional manner indicate nothing but the bad intentions of the BJP," he alleged.
Tiwari said it was "height" of inhumanity to keep Kejriwal in jail despite his medical reports showing dip in his blood sugar to a dangerous level.
The Congress and AAP had fought the recent Lok Sabha elections in Delhi in alliance. AAP had fielded candidates on four seats and Congress on three seats. However, the alliance drew a blank.
Gogoi warned the BJP and its leaders saying they cannot scare the opposition whether it is AAP, Congress or any other party.
"Their illusion lies shattered with this rally. If fair Lok Sabha elections had been held in 2024, the BJP would have been in opposition and we would have been in power. The BJP-led government is not going to complete its five-year term," he stressed.
Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam and has been granted bail by the Supreme Court. However, he is currently lodged in Tihar in a connected CBI case.
VIDEO | "Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi instructed us to support the AAP over injustice done to Arvind Kejriwal. He was put in jail illegally time and again. His health is deteriorating. The govt should have released him on humanitarian ground but they are not. It is working… pic.twitter.com/w4cod4FoXN
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 30, 2024
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
