The Aam Aadmi Party-led (AAP) Delhi government on Tuesday removed from several areas posters and hoardings, through which it had taken a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to allow it to function without “interference”.
Last week, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP dispensation had put up posters and hoardings critical of Mr. Modi and suggestive of the Prime Minister creating hurdles in its functioning implicitly through Delhi Police.
The advertisements, which bore somewhat cryptic messages placed above a lit candle reminiscent of outrage over the lack of women’s safety in the Capital in the wake of the December 16 gang-rape, also played out on several news channels with much frequency, in addition to popular radio stations.
A government official chose to justify the move as “mark of respect” for former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who passed away on Monday evening.
“Prime Minister Sir, Please, let Delhi government work,” read one of the posters, which had come up across several sites in the Capital almost overnight after the Chief Minister shot off a terse letter to Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung on July 23 accusing him of acting at the behest of Mr. Modi.
The letter had also come in the wake of the murder of a girl by her neighbour and his brother in North Delhi’s Anand Parbat area earlier this month. The letter was written two days after Mr. Jung had struck down the Mr. Kejriwal’s appointment of Swati Maliwal as Chief of Delhi Commission for Women.
Mr. Jung had replied in a letter, which found its way to the public domain just like many of Mr. Kejriwal’s communications to his office, explaining the reasons for having struck down Ms. Maliwal’s appointment. Her appointment was cleared by Mr. Jung’s office on Monday.
Earlier, the Delhi government had posted an audio-clip on the social media, where Mr. Kejriwal appealed to Mr. Modi to spare at least one hour every week to improve the city’s “deteriorating” law and order situation, or hand over the police to the city government.
The BJP had slammed the AAP for the advertisements against the Prime Minister, while the Congress, led by State president Ajay Maken, had dragged it to court on the subject.
A government official chose to justify the move as “mark of respect” for former President APJ Abdul Kalam
