A day that started with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “lying” to the country on the one rank, one pension (OROP) scheme also saw him being detained by the police for trying to meet the family members of an ex-serviceman, Ram Kishen Grewal, who allegedly committed suicide over pension.
Mr. Kejriwal was taken to the R.K. Puram police station in south Delhi from Lady Hardinge Medical College Hospital, where he was detained. Earlier, his movement was blocked by the police for about three hours and he was not allowed to meet the family members of Grewal. Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia too was detained while talking to the family members of the deceased. “Formally detained by the police. No idea where they are taking me,” Mr. Kejriwal tweeted at 7.42 p.m. Before this, he had tweeted that his vehicle was “surrounded by police”, and they were not allowing him to leave. He said Grewal’s son had said that he was manhandled by the police while being detained at the Connaught Place Police Station.
In an “appeal” to the Centre, Mr. Kejriwal said it was sad that an ex-serviceman had to give his life demanding the implementation of OROP. He said Mr. Modi has been “lying” to the entire country by saying OROP had been implemented, even as soldiers had been demanding it for more than a year and a half. He said Mr. Grewal, who had written to the Defence Minister, would not have died if OROP had been implemented. The ex-serviceman’s “martyrdom will not go in vain” and the entire country would now join the struggle, he added.
Mr. Kejriwal demanded Rs. 1 crore compensation for the families of each of the soldiers who had recently been killed in the Uri attacks.
