AAP Latest protests against Arvind Kejriwal arrest: Mass fasting across India

1. AAP leader Gopal Rai said Arvind Kejriwal’s supporters in India and abroad will also participate in the party’s “samuhik upwaas”. “People can observe fast at home and support the Delhi chief minister,” he said.

2. All AAP MLAs, office bearers will gather at Jantar Mantar at 11 am to observe mass fast. Security has been stepped up along roads leading to the protest site as police prepare for large-scale protests. Traffic may also be affected in parts of central Delhi due to tight roadblocks.

3. The Aam Aadmi Party last month called for the establishment of a ‘gherao’ at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence. During the protest, several AAP leaders and workers, including women, were seen being pushed and dragged onto buses before being taken to various police stations in the national capital.

4. The AAP hit out at the timing of the arrest, claiming that the party was trying to stop Mr Kejriwal from campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. AAP ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj said the chief minister was issuing orders from the ED’s detention center and assured Delhi residents that the chief minister was always thinking about their welfare.

5. The AAP insists there will be no change in leadership, even if it means Mr Kerjriwal remains in jail as chief minister. Meanwhile, the BJP has called Kejriwal’s “prison job scheme” a scam.

6. Kejriwal’s arrest also unites the opposition group, which has made headlines in recent times for divisions rather than unity.

7. In a show of strength, the Indian Union held a large rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan last Sunday, accusing the BJP of wiping out the opposition through central investigative agencies.

8. Mr Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 in connection with the liquor policy scam after resisting nine summons from central agencies and has been running the administration from ED custody ever since.

9. The central agency accused the AAP leader of being a “conspirator”. The education ministry argued that the now-defunct policy provided high profit margins and that slush funds were allegedly used to fund AAP’s election campaigns.

10. AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh and Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha have been arrested in connection with the incident. Opposition leaders have denied the allegations and accused the BJP-led central government of using investigative agencies like ED and CBI for political motives.

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