Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that the Delhi Police had denied permission for his rally in Shakur Basti at the behest of the BJP.
The police, however, cited heavy traffic and a weekly market at the spot as the reason to deny approval, adding that they had approved another site about 150 metres away.
“BJP gets my public rally cancelled today thro police. Police denies permission. How many BJP rallies were denied permission by police in Delhi in last 5 yrs?... [sic],” Mr. Kejrwial said in a tweet, adding in Hindi that the BJP should admit it was losing the seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi.
The rally was to be a part of the AAP’s launch of its ‘Purna Rajya Banao, Jhaadu ka button dabao’ campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. Though the Shakur Basti rally was cancelled, Mr. Kejriwal was scheduled to addressed another rally in Timarpur on Saturday evening. At the rally, he said: “Today I had two rallies. BJP got my Shakur Basti rally cancelled through the police. BJP knows they are losing the seven seats in Delhi so they will do whatever they can to put restrictions on our campaigning...They can cancel my rallies, I will just go to the streets. My people are there.”
Listing out the AAP government’s achievements in education, health, power and other sectors over the past four years, Mr. Kejriwal said some work “cannot be done till Delhi is a full State”. He appealed to the crowd to vote for AAP in order to make Delhi a full state within two years.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer Delhi) Seju P. Kuruvilla said in a tweet: “Busy intersection of Sant Nagar Chowk was not found fit for a proposed public meeting of 2000, with around 1000 seats and pandal, due to heavy traffic and weekly market. This was conveyed on 20-03-2018. “No objection” for alternate site, 150 m away, has already been conveyed. [sic]”.
AAP, however, hit back, issuing a statement saying that it was only after Mr. Kejriwal tweeted about the matter that the police had “allowed an alternate venue” on Saturday afternoon as a “face-saver”. The party alleged that police did not allow the rally at the first venue for “no reason”.
Addressing a press conference, senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said the “Modi police” was responsible for the denial.He said that AAP would be raising the issue with the Election Commission.
