High drama in Delhi as AAP, BJP hold protests
AAP leaders detained after they tried to march towards PM’s residence on Lok Kalyan Marg to protest Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest; BJP protesters head for Secretariat, demanding CM’s resignation
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday staged protests at opposite ends of central Delhi. While AAP leaders and workers took to the streets against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the excise policy case, the BJP protesters sought Mr. Kejriwal’s resignation.
The AAP leaders, including Punjab Minister Harjot Singh Bains and Somnath Bharti, were detained as they attempted to march towards the Prime Minister’s residence on Lok Kalyan Marg. According to the Delhi Police, security was stepped up around Metro stations in central Delhi. DCP (New Delhi) Devesh Kumar said, “No permission was given for any kind of protest. Security has been intensified around the area as we also got information that protesters will gather at the Patel Chowk Metro station.” Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) banning assembly has already been imposed around the Prime Minister’s residence, an officer said.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, in a post on ◣ said the entry and exit gates at the Lok Kalyan Marg Metro station have been closed due to security reasons.
Entry and exit have also been restricted at the Patel Chowk and Central Secretariat Metro stations, it added.
At least 57 BJP protesters, including the party’s Delhi chief Virenda Sachdeva, were detained as party workers and leaders gathered near the Arun Jaitley Stadium and marched towards the Delhi Secretariat, demanding Mr. Kejriwal’s resignation. The police said some BJP workers climbed over barricades during their march.
“Water cannons were used to disperse the protesters. Some of them were detained when they tried to break through a layer of barricades,” a police officer said. In parts of central Delhi, security personnel equipped with antiriot gear were deployed to ensure law and order.
Hearing today
Mr. Kejriwal was remanded in the ED custody till March 28 by a court. The Delhi High Court will on Wednesday hear the Chief Minister’s petition against the ED arrest.
The petition, which has sought his immediate release on the ground that his arrest and the subsequent remand was “illegal”, is listed before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma at 10.30 a.m.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh got into a war of words over the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), after Mr. Ramesh termed the scheme “poorly designed”.
Citing a media report on a sample study by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) on the pension scheme, the Congress leader, in a post on ◣, said the Atal pension scheme “is a fitting representation of the Modi government’s policy making: headline management, with few benefits actually reaching the people”.
Quoting the news report, Mr. Ramesh said that up to a third of the subscribers dropped out of the scheme because their accounts were opened without their “explicit” permission.
Further, he said nearly 83% of the subscribers are in the lowest slab of ₹1,000 pension, “because the monthly contribution for it is low and it goes ‘unnoticed’ by the beneficiaries”.
“For subscribers, the amount of return is not very attractive since it is a fixed income pension, which loses value with rising prices,” Mr. Ramesh noted.
In response, Ms. Sitharaman said the Congress leader “is known for using verbal sophistry to hide facts, is being malicious or is ignorant of the basic tenets of designing a good pension scheme”.
“As per the ICSSR report, out of the 2,461 total surveyed, 38 have attributed exit due to their perception of account being opened without consent. This is ONLY 1.54% of the total (38/2461) and is NOT 1/3rd as mischievously mentioned by you!” she said. The Finance Minister said the pension scheme is based on best practice choice architecture to automatically continue the premium payment unless the subscriber opts out.
“Instead of requiring people to decide each year to continue, they have to take a decision to discontinue. This makes many of them take the right decision and save for their retirement,” she said.
“Jairam Ramesh says that people are being ‘hoodwinked and coerced’ into participating! Hoodwinking is what the Congress does always — in the name of vote bank politics or minority appeasement,” she said.