Capital will not be held hostage: CM slams Rahul, Kejriwal over protest bid
Amid a crackdown on anti-CEC protests, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday said the Capital would not be held hostage and accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal of trying to turn the city into a “battleground” in league with their “B-Team” CJP.
Top CJP leaders, Kejriwal, along with leaders of Left parties and Trinamool Congress, CJP members, activists and students were among over 7,000 people detained as authorities foiled a planned protest by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at Jantar Mantar to demand resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
CJP convener Abhijeet Dipke and Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were detained at Delhi airport on their arrival from Mumbai.
The chief minister, in a post on X, alleged that Gandhi and Kejriwal, rejected by the people, sought to turn Delhi into a battleground in collusion with their “B-Team”. “Why are these leaders so hell-bent on venting frustration over their nonstop defeats on the public? What offence have residents of Delhi committed to be tormented by the chaos on the streets?” Gupta wrote.
She asserted that she will fight resolutely against the politics of spreading anarchy in the guise of democracy and challenging the public mandate. She also hit out at Kejriwal, accusing him of trying to disrupt safety and peace in Delhi for his “political self-interest”.
“Arvind Kejriwal, who worships anarchy and has bestowed upon himself the title of Delhi’s owner, is attempting to disrupt the peace and security of Delhiites for his political self-interest,” she charged. Kejriwal, along with several of his party’s leaders, was detained after he tried to march to Jantar Mantar.
The chief minister questioned who would be responsible for the trouble caused to people heading to work, daily wagers trying to support their families, and patients trying to reach hospitals amid the protests.
“Are your political ambitions greater even than the livelihoods, safety and peace of millions of families in Delhi?” she asked. “Delhi voted for development. Due to the unprecedented public support, Prime Minister Narendra Modi became Prime Minister for a third consecutive term,” the chief minister said.
However, parties steeped in “dynastic politics and opportunism” simply cannot digest this public support for Modi and the BJP, she said, and asserted that Delhi will not be held hostage.
Delhi BJP president and Union minister Harsh Malhotra said that the call of CJP for protest at Jantar Mantar proved to be a “complete flop” and the few “brainwashed youth” who took to the streets lost their “morale” after seeing Dipke and other party leaders getting detained.
“By handing over his flight details to the police and getting himself arrested without actually taking to the streets to protest, Abhijeet Dipke and his associates have completely lost their credibility among the youth,” Malhotra said.
The “truth” is that neither CJP nor Aam Aadmi Party workers turned up for the protest, and after 11 AM, only a handful of Leftist youth were seen running around in a state of confusion,” said the Delhi BJP chief.
