Arvind Kejriwal takes dig at PM: ‘Even the British did not arrest anyone for putting up posters’

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Kejriwal was speaking at a public meeting organised by AAP at Jantar Mantar, which was attended by hundreds of AAP workers from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi. He said: “A hundred years ago, even the British did not arrest anyone for putting up posters… Who knew that a PM will come who will get 136 FIRs registered in one night against people for putting up some posters. The six poor people who were putting up these posters have been arrested… Is the PM’s health okay that he is up against a printer and six people? Why is he so scared and insecure that he is putting everyone in jail? Tell the PM to sleep because if he is sleeping for three hours, it’s a problem… I hope he remains healthy.”

Posters asking for Kejriwal’s ouster also came up across the city Thursday morning. The posters bear BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa’s name. The CM said he had no objection to it: “In a democracy, the public has every right to express their views in favour of or against their leader. Those who put up posters against me should not be arrested.”
Police had alleged that one of the arrested men disclosed to them that his employer had asked him to deliver the posters at the AAP headquarters.

At the public meeting, Kejriwal was joined by his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann and other party leaders including Sanjay Singh, Gopal Rai, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Durgesh Pathak and Atishi, among others.

AAP workers from Punjab came to Delhi in buses and cars which were parked near Jantar Mantar road. Party MLAs from Punjab, with security personnel in tow, were also present. Initially, workers were holding placards of freedom fighters such as Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru, Sukhdev as well as Ambedkar, which were replaced by placards stating ‘Modi Bhagao Desh Bachao’ as soon as Kejriwal arrived. A giant poster bearing the slogan was also put up on the stage upon his arrival.

Kejriwal also claimed thousands of government schools were being shut down across the country. “Today, I want to put a question in front of the country — can a less educated PM build India of the 21st Century? The Prime Minister of India must be educated… If we had an educated PM, he would have understood the importance of schools and had opened more schools instead of shutting them down,” he said.

Speaking out in support of his jailed former minister, Kejriwal said, “Manish Sisodia is respected by lakhs of parents. If the PM were educated, he would have said ‘Give me Manish Sisodia. I will make him the education minister of the country’.”

During the meeting, Environment Minister Gopal Rai announced that ‘Modi Hatao, Desh Bachao’ posters will be put up in every corner of the country from March 30. He also demanded the release of the six arrested people.