Thousands march against ‘dictator’ LG AAP protest, Sunday crowd leads to snarls in central Delhi
STANDOFF CONTINUES Protesters stopped near Parliament Street, AAP leaders says healthy turnout shows protest march was a success
NEWDELHI: Thousands of supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and some from Left groups, marched from Mandi House to Parliament Street on Sunday to demand Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal’s intervention in ending the ongoing ‘strike’ of IAS officers.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and three of his cabinet colleagues — Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai — have been staging a ‘sit-in’ protest at Raj Niwas to demand that IAS officers of the city call off their alleged strike and that the L-G clears the “doorstep delivery of ration” scheme.
Around midnight, Kejriwal tweeted that Satyendar Jain had been shifted to a hospital due to “his deteriorating health”.
“If the L-G can’t meet with the ministers, let him at least ask the IAS officers to end their strike. Services are under him and strikes are not allowed according to the officers’ code of conduct,” said Sanjay Singh, senior AAP leader and the party’s Rajya Sabha MP. Singh led the protest march on Sunday.
On Sunday, the protesters marched against the “L-G’S dictatorship” and to press for full statehood for Delhi. Delhi Police, however, cordoned off the area near Parliament street and forced the protesters to disperse peacefully from there.
Delhi Police had earlier said that Sunday’s march was taken out without proper permission.
While an AAP leader estimated that around 50,000 people joined Sunday’s march, the Delhi Police claimed that the number was closer to 3,500.
“The amount of police mobilisation goes to show how scared they were of the protest. We were stopped far away from the PM’S residence... We have a history of non-violence and had no intention of bothering the cops. Afterall, they too are just doing their jobs and have to do what they are told by their bosses,” said Atishi Marlena, AAP member.
Sunday’s protest saw AAP minister Kailash Gehlot, Delhi Vidhan Sabha speaker Ram Niwas Goel, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Gupta, AAP members Raghav Chaddha and Atishi Marlena, CPI(M) secretary Sitaram Yechury, and All India Progressive Women’s Association secretary Kavita Krishnan, among others, participating in it. Guest teachers, School Management Committee (SMC) members, and other associations like the Delhi Pradesh Valmiki Mazdoor Sangh, were also in attendance.
“CPM, CPI, CPI(ML), all attended the march... the Congress should learn (from these parties). In Uttarakhand, Manipur, wherever democracy was under threat, we stood with them. Here the Congress is speaking the language of the BJP,” said Sanjay Singh.
A number of party leaders, including Sisodia, tweeted of how the protest was reminiscent of India Against Corruption move- ment of 2011, which saw thousands take to the streets.
AAP workers said that the party had asked each of their MLAS to bring at least 200 people from their constituency to increase the number of attendees.
“We had given responsibilities to our MLAS in preparation for this programme and there’s nothing wrong in that,” said Singh.
While many participants knew of the issues at hand, some others, like Manoranjan of Karol Bagh, cian-government servant relationship is upsetting. Situations change, even become tense with threatened and real transfers mid- academic season, foisting of enquires, etc., but these have been individual. What has happened in Delhi is unprecedented, and if AAP is to be believed, it is a breakdown of the Constitutional order. It can be stated unequivocally that things have been rocky since AAP assumed office the first time in December 2013. The public calling of bureaucrats and accusing them of sabotage started then itself – the UPA was in power then and AAP took office backed by the Congress. The situation only deteriorated since the sweep of 2014. The immediate provocation was the unprecedented incident at the CM’S house where the chief secretary is said to have been assaulted. Since police investigations are on, it would not be appropriate to believe or disbelieve the Chief Secretary’s complaint that he was assaulted. However, the undisputed fact is that the meeting was called at short notice, for midnight. Was it thought that the protests was to ensure water supply in his area.
“Everybody was coming here. So I thought I will also join them,” said Naseema Khatoon of Nangloi, holding a placard that asked the L-G to fix the ration services. a war situation? Floods? Natural disaster? Why would a meeting be called for midnight? And if it was to discus the ration door delivery issue, then why was the relevant minister not present? The net result is, according to Delhi’ bureaucrats, that they have stopped attending meetings called by ministers; all communications are through files. They say Ministers have forfeited their confidence since it is an issue of physical safety – if the head of the civil services can be assaulted in the presence of the CM, then who is safe?
Five, what of the door step delivery issue itself? The situation is that Aadhaar seeding of ration cards has shown a gap with a number of cardholders not completing the process. The claim is that these now-uncovered cases would get doorstep delivery. There are just two problems here, namely that most cases where Aadhaar seeding has not been done are in the affluent colonies of South Delhi. Does Delhi really need to hire people by the hundreds but let’s leave that aside. NEWDELHI: Commuters travelling to and from central Delhi areas were stuck in traffic snarls on Sunday, as roads leading to Mandi House and Jantar Mantar were blocked by Delhi Police at some places due to the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) demonstrations.
India Gate’s C- hexagon too witnessed traffic congestion during the day as a large number of people stepped out of their houses to make the most of the Sunday. Traffic police officers said vehicular flow was likely to remain heavy in the area till 9.30PM.
In the afternoon, traffic movement was blocked from Patel Chowk to Jantar Mantar due to the AAP’S demonstration against the ongoing ‘strike’ by IAS officers in the state.
Later, around 4pm, a stretch of Sansad Marg — from Jai Singh Road to Patel Chowk — too was cordoned off due to the demonstrations, police said.
“Traffic flow is heavy on Barakhamba Road, Sikandara Road, Copernicus Marg and Mandi House on both carriageways due to demonstration. Kindly avoid these stretches,” traffic police said in a tweet.
The AAP leaders and workers marched towards the Prime Minister’s residence on Sunday to protest against the lack of response by the Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and the Centre to the sit-in protest by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his ministers at the L-G’S house.
The protesters started marching from Mandi House after 4pm and were dispersed peacefully from Parliament Street around 7 pm. A senior Delhi Metro official said entry and exit at four stations falling in Lutyens’ Delhi zone were closed for six hours — from 2pm to 8pm. No entry and exit was allowed at the Lok Kalyan Marg Metro station, which is close to the PM’S residence, from noon till 8 PM, the official said.
CPM, CPI,
CPI(ML), attended the march... the Congress should learn. In Uttarakhand, Manipur, wherever democracy was under threat, we stood with them. Cong is speaking the language of the BJP. ENTRY AND EXIT AT FOUR STATIONS FALLING IN LUTYENS’ DELHI ZONE WERE CLOSED FOR FOUR HOURS — 2PM TO 8PM.
Reforms in governance over the past two decades has been to reduce the points of interaction between the user and government functionaries, including by outsourcing. Hence the Citizen Service Centres where one can pay utility charges, apply and receive ration cards, get copy of birth certificates, etc. The idea is to reduce rent seeking opportunities and ensure transparency. To now seek to reverse that and deliver ration to the doorstep is problematic, however humanitarian it may appear. The hiring of hundreds to do this raises doubts about the real fears of government paying for partisan political activities.
Delhi government circles, cynically, attribute the dharna to the fear that the police investigation could land up chargesheeting the top echelons of the Delhi government, but that is just speculation. Incidentally the claim of ‘strike’ has been downgraded to ‘partial strike.’