Source – HT
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed was put under house arrest after his visit to the farmers protesting the three central farm laws at the national capital’s Singhu border, said that he was prevented from expressing solidarity with the farmers and that he had planned to go to the border not as a CM but as a common man.
“I had planned that today I would go to the border not as CM but as a common man to express my solidarity with the farmers. I think they came to know about my plan and they did not let me go,” CM Kejriwal said.
AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj on Tuesday said that nobody was being allowed to leave or enter the CM’s official residence since Monday.
“On a day when the entire country is supporting the farmers in the Bharat Bandh, the Central government’s home ministry has asked the Delhi Police to not allow Kejriwal to leave his residence. Yesterday, when Kejriwal, along with all his Cabinet colleagues, went to Singhu border to meet the protesting farmers as a sewadar, the BJP-led Central government got scared. It is the same way as they got upset when Kejriwal did not allow the Delhi Police to convert nine stadiums into temporary jails for the farmers,” he said.
Farmers protesting against the three farm laws cleared by the Parliament in September had called for a nationwide strike or a Bharat Bandh on Tuesday. AAP was among other political parties who extended their support to the call. “The Aam Aadmi Party fully supports the Bharat Bandh call made by farmers on December 8. AAP workers across the country will support it peacefully. There is an appeal to all countrymen that everyone should support the farmers and participate in it,” Kejriwal tweeted.
“I am glad Bharat Bandh was successful. I prayed for protesting farmers while sitting inside,” he said from his residence on Tuesday.
The bandh (shutdown) call was supported by several opposition parties and state governments. Major political parties, such as the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Samajwadi Party (SP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Left Front came out in support of the bandh.
The farmers are protesting against the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. They believe these laws will pave way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporates.
Photograph Credits : AFP