No permission granted for Kejriwal’s proposed march to PM residence

Delhi Police on Monday said no permission has been granted for Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s proposed march to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence on Tuesday with 100 volunteers. Earlier, Kejriwal announced his march to submit petitions against E20 ethanol-blended fuel. However, Delhi police said that security arrangements are being made to prevent any unauthorised procession.

Kejriwal announced the march at a press conference on Monday, saying he would personally hand over petitions signed by over two lakh people to the Prime Minister after receiving no response to a letter he had sent last month seeking an appointment to discuss concerns over E20 petrol.

“I will go to the PM’s residence tomorrow along with 100 people to personally hand over the petitions signed by the public and discuss issues related to ethanol-blended petrol. People are facing several problems in their vehicles, and despite all that, the government is continuing with this, which means there is a hidden agenda,” he said.

Kejriwal also alleged that India had yielded to US President Donald Trump to buy ethanol from the United States and that this was why the government was pushing E20 blended fuel. He said the AAP’s National Town Hall Against E20 held last week was a huge success, with a large number of people joining virtually.

He said he had sought in his letter to the Prime Minister that petrol stations offer both pure petrol and E20 fuel as options, and that the price of ethanol-blended petrol be reduced. Since no response was received, the march was announced to deliver the petition directly.

Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra dismissed Kejriwal’s announcement as political theatre. He said Kejriwal’s plan to march to the Prime Minister’s residence is part of an ongoing competition between him and the Congress over who can emerge as the country’s leading anarchist.

“Ever since the Congress staged a protest at the Prime Minister’s residence, Kejriwal appeared to be falling behind in this politics of disruption,” Malhotra said. He added that creating disorder first and then playing the victim card has long been Kejriwal’s political style. “Tomorrow, when the police prevent him from entering the Prime Minister’s residence without permission, Kejriwal will once again play the victim card and claim that the government refused even to hold talks with him,” Malhotra said.

The E20 fuel protest movement has been building across multiple groups simultaneously. On Saturday, Team Bharat founder Tehseen Poonawalla undertook a solo walk from APJ Abdul Kalam Road to Gandhi Smriti and began a hunger strike and vow of silence there, after the group’s planned Gaadi March Gandhi March vehicle protest was called off on July 31 when police warned that vehicles could be seized and participants could face arrest.

Poonawalla said the shift to a silent solo protest was a deliberate choice rooted in Gandhian principles. “When voices are restrained, silence itself becomes a powerful expression. Our Gaadi March was called off because we were told vehicles could be seized and participants arrested. We could not and would not put citizens at risk or allow any possibility of violence,” he said.

Team Bharat had earlier held meetings with senior officials from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Ministry of Heavy Industries to present its concerns about the E20 policy before moving to street protests.

The E20 policy mandates blending of 20 percent ethanol with petrol. Vehicle owners and advocacy groups have raised concerns about the impact of the blended fuel on engine performance, fuel efficiency, and maintenance costs, particularly for older two-wheelers not designed to run on high-ethanol blends.