By – Prakarsh Katwar
All of India’s top officials are expected to attend the protest, which is scheduled to take place in the historic Ramlila Maidan in the nation’s capital.
New Delhi : On Sunday, top figures from the opposition INDIA alliance will gather in Delhi’s historic Ramlila Maidan for a rally dubbed the ‘Loktantra Bachao’ (Save Democracy). The gathering is being viewed as an expression of the Opposition’s strength and solidarity in the wake of the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) arrest of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal on March 21 in the liquor policy case.
Here are 10 key points from the INDIA bloc’s Delhi rally :
- Security has been heightened at the event, with paramilitary soldiers deployed.
- The Congress declared on Saturday that the gathering is not “person-specific,” despite the fact that AAP leaders have framed it as a protest against Kejriwal’s arrest.
- “It is not person-specific. That’s why it’s called the Loktantra Bachao rally. “There are about 27-28 parties involved,” stated Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh.
- Top leaders from nearly all INDIA constituencies are expected to come and speak at the event. The grand old party, the largest component of the opposition alliance, will be represented by Mallikarjun Kharge, national president, and former chief Rahul Gandhi, among others.
- Sunita Kejriwal, Arvind Kejriwal’s wife, and Kalpana Soren, the wife of former Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren, will also be present. The ED detained Hemant Soren in January for illegal land mining.
- Before the gathering, the two had a 15- to 20-minute meeting during which they declared their “mutual resolve to fight it out.”” “I’ve come here to share Sunita ji’s grief and suffering. She described her situation. “Everyone in Jharkhand supports Arvind Kejriwal,” Kalpana declared to the media following the meeting.
- The AAP has been granted permission by the Delhi Police to host the programme, which will have approximately 20,000 attendees. The stadium has a capacity of around 1.25 lakh.
- According to a senior officer, police have allowed the gathering to take place in central Delhi under specific conditions, such as no march, no tractor-trollies, and no weapons.
- Section 144, which restricts mass gatherings, has been applied on DDU Marg, where political party offices are located, according to another officer.
- Meanwhile, the INDIA alliance was targeted by the ruling BJP, which called the gathering a “Bhrashtachar Bachao Andolan” (rescue corrupt campaign). “When Kejriwal was in jail, the courts did not give him relief. Therefore, he took the support of the same Lalu Prasad Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, and Rahul Gandhi, and he asked why he was put in jail,” BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said. “Arvind Kejriwal used to say that he would put Lalu Yadav, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi in jail because they had committed “bhrashtachar.”