New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Thursday asked Aam Aadmi Party National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal to refrain from spreading unverified information and rumours about an “impending crackdown” on Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protesters at Jantar Mantar here past-midnight.
In a message on its official X account, the Delhi Police said, “There is no plan of Delhi Police to crack down on the ongoing protest tonight as is being conveyed. You are advised to refrain from spreading or circulating any misleading/unverified information.”
Kejriwal had shared on social media a letter of the New Delhi Traders’ Association that asked all its member shopkeepers in Connaught Place to down shutters by 6.30 p.m. on Thursday evening.
The AAP leader in his message on X said, “Intense security. Piles of ambulances. Will the Modi government once again brutally attack its own children at Jantar Mantar today?”
Earlier, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Harsh Malhotra said that Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal and other opposition parties must answer: What did they achieve by breaching the security of the Prime Minister’s residence and the Indian Parliament, and why are they running away from a discussion on the issue?
The Delhi BJP President added: “The Opposition in the country today has no political vision. It consists only of personality-driven parties that have been rejected by the people for the last 12 years.”
“Rahul Gandhi, Kejriwal, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav and Shiv Sena-UBT President Uddhav Thackeray are defeated and frustrated leaders and not one of them has ever had any connection with student politics. Yet today, they see political gains in student politics.”
In a related development, the Union Home Ministry ordered suspension of mobile internet services for eight hours starting from 4 p.m. on Thursday around Jantar Mantar — the venue of students’ protest against exam irregularities — to maintain public order, an official said.
The Ministry issued the order for suspension of mobile internet services, saying that the Union Home Secretary is satisfied that it is necessary to do so in the “interest of public order and for preventing incitement to the commission of any offence”.
The order issued by Under Secretary Mahendra Vikram Singh directed “to suspend the mobile internet services (all technologies) with effect from 16:00 Hrs to 24:00 Hrs on July 23 and around a radius of 1.5 km of Jantar Mantar”.
The order was issued in exercise of the power conferred by clause (b) of Sub-section (2) of Section 20 of The Telecommunication Act, 2023, read with clause (b) of sub-rule 1 of Rule 2 and sub-rule 1 of Rule 3 of The Telecommunications (Temporary Suspension of Services) Rules, 2024.
Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office, Jitendra Singh, said that the Central government has made four formal proposals for talks with the CJP in the past 24 hours but they have remained “unresponsive and uncommunicative” to their outreach.
The Minister of State told IANS that the Union government has reached out with “utmost humility” to the protesting students at Jantar Mantar, highlighting that dialogue was the only constructive way to end the stalemate.
“We are waiting for them. Our doors are open 24×7. We have approached them at least four times in the past 24 hours. We seek their participation in talks on all issues, including NEET,” he said.
(IANS)
