Supporters of Arvind Kejriwal clashed with police outside Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hoodas Delhi residence on Sunday afternoon. The activists,who were protesting against the Hooda governments alleged role in facilitating land deals between Robert Vadra and realty major DLF,said they had been brutally beaten,a charge that police denied. Soon afterward,at a press conference called by Kejriwal to condemn the police action,the activist-politician was confronted dramatically by a 55-year-old woman who accused him of being corrupt,a liar,and of doing politics. The woman who gave her name as Annie Kohli and said she was from Mumbai,claimed to be a former activist of Kejriwals India Against Corruption (IAC),but Kejriwal denied knowing her. Around 12.30 pm,about 200 IAC supporters gathered at Gol Dak Khana and marched toward Hoodas residence on Pandit Pant Marg. They breached a barricade,following which police turned water cannons on the protesters. No senior IAC leader was among the protesters. IAC members alleged that over 70 activists had been injured in a police lathicharge. But Delhi Police PRO Rajan Bhagat said,There was no lathi charge. A senior officer said the protesters had been warned against breaching the barricade. When they turned violent,we resorted to mild force and water cannons, the officer said. Two companies comprising around 140 personnel were deployed. Police said four of their personnel and six protesters were administered first aid for minor injuries. Twenty-five protesters,including four women,were detained at Parliament Street police station,where a case of rioting and obstructing a public servant was registered against unknown persons. At a press conference at his office in Kaushambi around 4 pm,Kejriwal presented four protesters who had had to be taken to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital to be treated for injuries. The protesters showed injuries allegedly caused by police beating. Police lathicharged IAC supporters who were holding a peaceful protest outside the Haryana CMs residence. Several persons suffered injuries, Kejriwal said. Police atrocities against a peaceful protest is condemnable. Kejriwal accused the Congress and the Haryana government of trying to save Vadra. The chief minister (Hooda) has transferred the officer who has ordered a probe into the incident. They are telling us corruption will go on and we will have to suffer. Our supporters had gone there to seek some answers from Hooda. But they were lathicharged, Kejriwal said. Minutes after Kejriwal had stopped speaking,he was accosted by Annie Kohli,a white-haired woman who was accompanied by around 35 other people,all of whom claimed to be former IAC volunteers. When you can pose questions to others,why cant they ask you? she demanded. Shaking a finger at Kejriwal,she said,You speak with a lot of affection but you are doing politics. You are using this as a ladder for your politics. Revolutionaries never run away from suffering. But for you,when the time came,you ran away. Kohli accused Kejriwal of abandoning his original goal of the Janlokpal bill,and shifting between issues. You were protesting with disabled people against Salman Khurshid. First you said you will sit there till you get results. But after four days,you left the place saying now you will go to Farrukhabad. You have support in Delhi. You want to become a leader, she said. To reporters,she said,I asked him (Kejriwal) if he was a revolutionary or a politician? He replied that he was a revolutionary politician. He needs to take a stand. He should be clear whether he is a revolutionary or a politician. Kohli distributed a pamphlet that said,The independence struggle had two streams of protests. One,the revolutionary path of Bhagat Singh and the other,that of Mahatma Gandhi. Which one do you follow? Once you answer this,I will raise another nine questions. When asked about Kohli,Kejriwal said,I dont know her. What kind of questions is she raising? Every agitation has its own strategy.
