Delhi Secretariat witnesses ‘AAP-style’ protest by Kejriwal’s former colleague

After the controversial Janta Durbar last week, the Delhi Secretariat witnessed yet another action-packed Saturday when around 30 members of the India Against Corruption (IAC) stormed at Gate No:6 of the building and protested against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his ministers.

Led by his one-time colleague and president of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), Akhil Gogoi, the protesters were locked into a heated argument with the police after they dared Kejriwal to come out and accept their memorandum. Despite repeated assurances from the police that the chief minister had left the premises, they continued shouting-“Arvind tum bahar aao” (come out Arvind!) until receiving their memorandum back signed by Kejriwal.

“Arvind was one of us till yesterday but he has cheated us. He had promised to bring the Jan Lokpal Bill within 15 days of coming into power but nothing has been done till now. No action has been taken against former chief minister Sheila Dixit. We demand allegations against her to be made public and her arrest within a week’s time”, said Manoj Jain, one of the IAC members.

The memorandum also demanded the removal of Somnath Bharti from the post of Delhi’s Law Minister on accounts that he had been indicted by a court of law for tampering of evidence and allegations that he had broken the law by revealing the name of the Danish woman who was allegedly gang-raped by eight men last Tuesday. Constitution of a woman commando force, security assurance to north-eastern originals and providing electricity, water, education, health and housing free of cost were other demands.

The protesters also threatened to sit on a fast-until-death from the first week of February if their demands were not met.

“We will begin a fast-until-death in case the government doesn’t heed our demands. It is Arvind who taught us all this and we will follow his teachings if needed”, said one of the protesters.

'Stung' in AAP-style himself, Sisodia booed down by protesters

‘Stung’ in a style propagated by his government, Delhi’s Education and Urban Development Minister Manish Sisodia had to face boos and sloganeering from members of All Guest Teachers’ Association sitting on a dharna outside the Delhi Secretariat for the last four days. After one of the protesters played a recorded sting that he had carried out on Sisodia where he allegedly backtracked from his promise of giving permanent posts to the teachers, a crowd of around 500 people started shouting slogans against him. The boos got louder after the crowd noticed that he had come out at the top of the Secretariat to view the situation. Embarrassed, Sisodia chose to return inside.