Top AAP leaders, including MPs, MLAs, Councillors and supporters gathered at Jantar Mantar on Sunday for a day-long fast (upwas) to protest against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the Liquorgate scam case, and accused the BJP of resorting to dictatorship.

Kejriwal is also the party’s national convener. Sunita Kejriwal was not seen at the Jantar Mantar during a day-long fast.

The leaders have announced that the mass fast is not without water, and are urging people to keep hydrated.  During the fast, several party volunteers and supporters took part in the fast in the national Capital, singing patriotic songs and waving posters showing an image of Kejriwal behind bars.

Some of them were chanting  “Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram” while some found raising slogans  “Inqilab Zindabad” and “Kejriwal Zindabad”. They were also  wearing caps with “Main Bhi Kejriwal” printed on them. Due to hot conditions, most of the supporters were carrying water bottles in their hands.

AAP leaders claimed that similar protests were being held in other States as well as by Indians abroad, 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. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann joined the collective fast at freedom fighter Bhagat Singh’s ancestral village Khatkar Kalan.

The stage in which the AAP leaders were seated during the six-hour fast had an image of Kejriwal behind bars in the backdrop. Portraits of B R Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh flanking Mahatma Gandhi’s photo were kept in front of the stage. The AAP shared photos of protests held in various cities, including Mumbai, Kolkata Bengaluru and Pune, on its social media handles.

Senior AAP leaders, including Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birlan, Ministers Gopal Rai, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Kailash Gahlot and Imran Hussain attended the day-long ‘Samuhik Upwas’ at Jantar Mantar from 11 am.

Addressing the protesters at Jantar Mantar, the AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who was recently granted bail by the Supreme Court in the Delhi excise scam case, asserted “Kejriwal was, is and will remain honest.”

He questioned Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, claiming the AAP national convener’s name was mentioned by just four of 456 witnesses of the CBI and ED probing the case.

“People know very well under what situation these witnesses named Kejriwal,” Singh said. He called upon AAP volunteers to work harder to ensure the victory of party candidates and those of the INDIA Bloc in the Lok Sabha polls to pave the way for the exit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah from power.

Addressing the protesters at Jantar Mantar, the AAP’s Rajya Sabha Singh, who was recently granted bail by the Supreme Court in the Delhi excise scam case, asserted “Kejriwal was, is and will remain honest.”

“They (BJP) are not going to get 400 seats… If a person is raising slogans of 400 paar will he arrest a sitting CM? Will they freeze the account of the Congress party? No party which is that confident of getting 400 seats in the LS polls, will do such things,” said Singh at the protest.

He questioned Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, claiming the AAP national convener’s name was mentioned by just four of 456 witnesses of the CBI and ED probing the case. “People know very well under what situation these witnesses named Kejriwal,” Singh said.

He called upon AAP volunteers to work harder to ensure the victory of party candidates and those of the INDIA Bloc in the Lok Sabha polls to pave the way for the exit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah from power.

Delhi Minister Atishi accused the BJP of resorting to dictatorship and claimed the fast by the AAP will give “sleepless nights” to the saffron party. There was anger among people over Kejriwal’s arrest and it will prove to be the “final nail in the coffin” of the BJP, she claimed.

“Bapu kept nearly 18 fasts, his longest upwas lasted 21 days, not just once but he kept 21-day long fasts thrice…he used to say that he keeps these fasts to fight for what’s right, in fact one of these fasts was against his own arrest by the British government,” the moderator of the programme, Dilip Pandey said.

The AAP’s Delhi unit convener Gopal Rai had appealed to people to join the fast to protest against Kejriwal’s arrest. He alleged that Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a case linked to the Delhi excise policy-linked scam case was part of the BJP’s conspiracy to finish the AAP.

Kejriwal, arrested on March 21, is in judicial custody till April 15.The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had given the call for a nationwide collective fast to protest the arrest of Kejriwal, who is also the party’s national convener.

Mann, along with several Ministers and AAP MLAs, gathered at Khatkar Kalan in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district for a day-long fast to protest the arrest after the Aam Aadmi Party gave the call for a nationwide collective fast. Addressing the gathering, Mann alleged that the BJP was “unnerved” at the expansion of the AAP which became a national party in 10 years.

“We formed Governments in two States in 10 years. We have MLAs in Gujarat and Goa and a mayor in Chandigarh. We have 10 Rajya Sabha members. So they (BJP) got scared as no party expanded so quickly,” said Mann.

Haryana AAP chief Sushil Gupta, along with party leaders and workers of the State unit, gathered in Haryana’s Kurukshetra for a day-long fast. On the occasion, Gupta targeted the ruling BJP at the Centre and alleged that “it is adopting a dictatorial attitude”. “The BJP is killing democracy... Honest people are being put in jail,” he said, adding neither Kejriwal nor the AAP workers are afraid of the “tactics” adopted by the ruling party.

The AAP claimed that its supporters living in 13 countries across the world observed a mass fast. The mass fast was observed in various countries, including US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Norway, Ireland. Here too, Indians started their fast with the hymns of ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, Patit Pavan Sita Ram’ and blessed Arvind Kejriwal for his long life.

According to the information, people at Harvard Square in Boston, Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles, Lake Elizabeth in San Francisco, Indian Embassy in Washington DC, Times Square in New York, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Plaza in Dallas, Brampton City Hall in Toronto, Canada, Holland Park Downtown in Vancouver, Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia; Parliament Square in London, UK; O’Cannell Street Upper in Dublin, Ireland; Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany and the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo, Norway observed mass fast as per local time.