Skip to main content

Indian opposition supporters detained ahead of protest at Modi’s Delhi home

Police in the Indian capital detained dozens of opposition supporters on Tuesday as they attempted to march to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence to protest against last week’s arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Kejriwal, a key opposition leader whose Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has governed the national capital territory for a decade, was arrested by the financial crime-fighting agency on corruption charges relating to the city’s liquor policy, weeks before India begins voting in general elections on April 19.

He was remanded to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate until March 28, with the lawyer for the agency arguing he was the “kingpin” in the case and needed to be interrogated.

Kejriwal’s party, all of whose main leaders are now imprisoned in connection with the case, says he has been “falsely arrested” in a “fabricated case”. The federal government and Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deny political interference.

On Tuesday, Kejriwal’s supporters attempted to march to Modi’s residence but were stopped by police at a location where they gathered about five kilometres away.

Television visuals showed several protesters sitting on the ground and chanting slogans as police personnel tried to haul them into buses.

Elsewhere in the city, police used water cannon to disperse BJP supporters trying to march to the Delhi Secretariat to demand Kejriwal’s resignation, and detained some of them.

“The chief minister of Delhi is corrupt and dishonest … he will have to resign,” state BJP President Virendraa Sachdeva told news agency ANI.

AAP leaders said Kejriwal would not resign and protests demanding his release would continue.

“I want to tell the federal government, this fight, this movement, will not stop because of the force of your police, this voice is reaching the entire nation,” Delhi’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai told reporters.

Multiple metro stations were closed “until further notice” due to “security reasons”, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said on messaging platform X on Tuesday morning.

Delhi Police issued a notice warning traffic would be affected “in view of special Law and Order arrangement” in the city.

AAP is part of the ‘INDIA’ bloc, an alliance of more than two dozen political parties formed last year to jointly challenge the BJP in the general elections.

![ .]](https://www.dawn.com/news/1823277/arrests-of-kejriwal-and-co-galvanise-frayed-indian-opposition)

The group plans to hold a joint rally in Delhi on March 31 to protest against Kejriwal’s arrest, hoping to renew their unity after bickering and failed attempts at sharing seats to field common candidates against the BJP.

The arrest of the high-profile Kejriwal, whose party also rules the northern Indian state of Punjab, has drawn international attention, with Germany and the US appealing for a “fair” and “impartial” trial in the case in line with “basic democratic principles”.



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/uF7c8L3
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Explainer: Iran’s economy faces rocky road amid rising prices, falling currency

Iran’s economy is going through one of its most difficult periods in years, fueled by sanctions, high inflation, and a significant drop in the value of the national currency, the rial. These pressures have had a direct impact on living standards and have also fueled recent protests. The protests began on Dec. 28 in commercial hubs in the capital Tehran, when shopkeepers, merchants, and small business owners staged strikes and demonstrations to protest soaring inflation, the collapsing rial, and deteriorating economic conditions, and have since grown into nationwide anti-government expressions of discontent involving workers, students, and others across multiple cities. The Iranian president said Sunday that his government is determined to address Iran’s economic problems amid the protests. Masoud Pezeshkian said the government admits to “shortcomings and problems” and is working hard to alleviate the people’s concerns, especially on the economy. Currency collapse at the centre of c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mitchell Starc surpasses Wasim Akram as most prolific left-arm pacer in Test history

Australian veteran Mitchell Starc became the most prolific left-arm paceman in Test history on Thursday, surpassing Pakistan great Wasim Akram. The 35-year-old bagged England’s Harry Brook at the Gabba in Brisbane on day one of the day-night second Ashes Test for his 415th wicket since his debut at the same ground 14 years ago. It moved him past Wasim, widely recognised as the greatest left-arm bowler the sport has seen. Wasim played 104 Tests for his 414 wickets with Starc reaching the milestone in his 102nd, helped by a career-best 7-58 in the first innings of the opening Ashes Test at Perth. Starc is now 16th on the all-time wicket-taker list and could move above both India’s Harbhajan Singh (417) and South Africa’s Shaun Pollock (421) in the current pink-ball Test. After that he will have New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee (431) in his sights. from Dawn - Home https://ift.tt/xclHiX2
Post a Comment
Read more

Global reaction to potential Israel-Hezbollah ‘spiral of violence’

World leaders on Tuesday sounded the alarm over fears of a wider conflict after Lebanon suffered its deadliest day in two decades in Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds. After nearly a year of cross-border fire since the Gaza offensive erupted, Israeli bombardment on Monday killed 558 people in Lebanon, including 50 children, according to the country’s health ministry. The toll — the highest since Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah went to war in mid-2006 — raised fears of an all-out conflict engulfing the Middle East. ‘Tens of thousands’ flee: UN UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “gravely alarmed by the escalating situation… and the large number of civilian casualties, including children and women,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes yesterday and overnight, and the numbers continue to grow,” United Nations refugee agency spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said in Geneva. ‘Spiral of violence’: US Israel’s clo...
Post a Comment
Read more