Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced a financial assistance of Rs1 crore to the family of the retired soldier, who killed himself while demanding the implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme for retired soldiers. It must be noted the Kejriwal Government had also given a compensation of Rs1crore to the kin of farmer Gajender, who had committed suicide at Jantar Mantar last year.
“We are giving Rs1 crore to the family of Ram Kishan (Grewal) whom we consider a martyr,” Kejriwal told journalists after the completion of the cremation ceremony.
Speaking of the deceased soldier, the AAP leader had said Grewal’s parting words to his family on Tuesday “proved he was a brave soldier”, who lived and died for the country.
“The whole nation will now continue to fight for the implementation of OROP and we will force the Government to implement it for our soldiers,” he added.
Kejriwal quickly added that the money, that is being given as compensation is part of a State Government policy, was a small amount and meant to be a gesture honouring martyrs.
Kejriwal, who was detained for seven hours by police on Wednesday as he tried to meet Grewal’s family, was critical of the way the police treated the grieving family.
The late Grewal’s son Jaswant, standing beside Kejriwal, repeated his allegation against police personnel, who kicked and abused them before taking them to a police station, where they were kept for hours.
“The police did not listen to our pleas,” an emotional Jaswant said. adding that “they kicked and abused us.”
Jaswant said the Government should implement the OROP scheme without delay and “no one else should suffer the way we (the family) have.”
Asked about allegations being leveled against him for politicising Grewal’s death, Kejriwal replied, “Yes, we are doing politics. We are doing politics to secure the soldiers’ rights and the Central Government is doing politics to cheat the soldiers.”