AAP MPs boycott President’s address to Parliament over arrest of CM Kejriwal

PTI, Jun 27, 2024, 3:53 PM IST

AAP MPs boycotted President Droupadi Murmu’s address to the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Thursday to protest against the arrest of party convenor Arvind Kejriwal.
Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal was on Wednesday arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the alleged excise policy scam being probed by it.
MPs of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) boycotted the President’s address and claimed it was written by the Central government, while maintaining that they had full respect for her.
They protested against Kejriwal’s arrest outside the Parliament and alleged it “was a gross misuse of investigation agencies”.
They held placards that read ‘ED, CBI ka durupyog bandh karo’ (stop the misuse of ED, CBI), ‘Taanshahi nahi chalegi’ (dictatorship will not be allowed), ‘Kejriwal ko riha karo’ (free Kejriwal), and raised slogans such as ‘PM Jawab do’ (answer us, PM).
“The protest is against dictatorship. This protest is to protect the Constitution and democracy. Today an elected chief minister was arrested and put behind bars. We are asking the prime minister to stop the misuse of investigative agencies and release Kejriwal,” AAP MP Sanjay Singh said during the protest.
“We are boycotting the President’s address since it is written by the government. We will participate in the discussion and do the job of waking up the government,” Singh said.
Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, AAP MP from Sangrur, said the Constitution and democracy are being “crushed in the entire country” under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
“Investigative agencies are being openly misused from Delhi to West Bengal, Jharkhand and Maharashtra,” Hayer alleged.
“Current Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal was put in jail. Former chief minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren was also put in jail. Our (Delhi) Education Minister Manish Sisodia and Health Minister Satyendar Jain were arrested and are in jail for about two years. AAP MP Sanjay Singh was kept in jail for six months for no reason. This is very dangerous for the democracy of the country,” he said.
Hayer said Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the CBI in a hurry when he had every possibility of getting bail from the Supreme Court because he had got bail from the trial court.
“This is a big example of dictatorship,” he added.
He said the AAP is discussing the matter with its INDIA bloc allies and with their support, the voice of dissent will be raised louder.
Murmu on Thursday addressed a joint sitting of Parliament after the constitution of the 18th Lok Sabha.