NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Sunday detained several workers of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as they marched towards the BJP headquarters in the national capital as part of a planned 'Jail Bharo' protest. The march comes against the backdrop of the arrest of CM Arvind Kejriwal's aide, Bibhav Kumar, in connection with the alleged assault on AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal.
Early on Sunday, hundreds of party workers gathered outside the AAP headquarters at DDU Marg and raised slogans, which ultimately culminated in targeting the BJP-ruled government in the centre.
Addressing party workers and leaders ahead of the protest march, Kejriwal said there will be bigger challenges ahead and asked the cadre to be prepared to face them. The AAP supremo also issued a challenge to PM Modi and the BJP, daring them to "send anyone you want to jail."
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is worried about the rise of the AAP. The party has risen too fast. They have started 'Operation Jhaadu' to crush the party. In the coming time, our bank accounts will be frozen and we will be brought on the road since our office will also be taken away," he said.
The party workers, led by CM Kejriwal, proceeded to march towards the BJP headquarters and sat before the 10-foot-tall barricades that the police had placed to stop the AAP leaders from moving ahead. The party leaders sat in front of the barricades for around 20 minutes and ended their stir.
Kejriwal, along with other senior party leaders, including Sanjay Singh, went back to their party office.
The Delhi Police had beefed up security at the BJP headquarters, deploying a large number of policemen along with paramilitary force personnel in view of the protest.
The cops also imposed Section 144 of the CrPc near the BJP headquarters and emphasised that the AAP did not seek permission for the protest.
"We stopped them as 144 CrPC has been implemented and we asked them to disperse, and adequate police arrangements are in place," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) M Harsh Vardhan said.
“We had heightened security as a precautionary measure and adequate numbers of police personnel were deployed and the road was barricaded from both sides,” the officer added.
Similarly, the Delhi Traffic Police issued an advisory asking commuters to avoid Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, while the Delhi Metro had shut down the exit and entry gates of the ITO Metro station.
Decrying Bibhav's arrest, CM Kejriwal, on Saturday, accused the BJP of resorting to a 'Jail Ka Khel' (game of putting leaders in jail) against his party, adding that he would lead a 'Jail Bharo' march to the BJP headquarters on Sunday along with his top party leaders as well as workers.
"They are after our party and sending our leaders in jail one after another. Today you have sent my PA (Bibhav Kumar) to jail," he said, adding that the BJP is saying they will send AAP MP Raghav Chadha and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj to jail too... I, along with my MLAs and MPs, would go to the BJP office at noon tomorrow so that the prime minister can send anyone he wants to jail," the Delhi CM had said.
(With inputs from Ujwal Jalali, and agencies)
