A police case has been filed against former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a day before Delhi goes to polls, over his allegations that Haryana is poisoning the waters of Yamuna. The case, filed in Haryana, accuses the Aam Aadmi Party chief under various sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The allegations include inciting riot, promotion of hatred, falsely accusing someone of crime with intent to cause harm and committing deliberate and malicious acts that insult the religious feelings of citizens.
Mr Kejriwal’s remarks, made last week in the run-up to the election, has triggered a huge political row and the matter has even reached the Election Commission.
The BJP, AAP and the Congress have each dared the other to drink the water and Mr Kejriwal has even extended the challenge to the Election Commission, drawing a strong reprimand.
In response to the poll body’s demand for hard evidence of his claim against Haryana, Mr Kejriwal had written back, “We have four bottles… will send to each one of them… please drink and show us. Then we will believe”.
In his first response to the Commission, Mr Kejriwal had cited a letter from the Delhi Jal Board that said the ammonia levels in the Yamuna had reached critical levels — 700 times the normal — and that it was “extremely poisonous for human health”.
The Commission, while acknowledging the ammonia levels, said the former Delhi Chief Minister was “entirely silent… on your widely circulated… statement of ‘poisoning of Yamuna by Government of Haryana with intention to cause genocide in Delhi’ (and) equating it with an act of war between two nations”.
The Commission also equated his comment with malicious comments made to create enmity with the neighbouring state.
Vociferously denying the allegations, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini released a video of himself taking a sip of Yamuna water. AAP alleged that he had spat it out.
Congress’s Rahul Gandhi alleged that Mr Kejriwal had promised to clean up the Yamuna within fie years but failed. “I would ask him to drink it (Yamuna water), we will meet in the hospital after that,” he added while speaking at a public meeting.
PM Modi then stepped in, declaring that the BJP government in Haryana would not poison the water he drank.
He also alleged that the AAP chief, with such bizarre comments, was trying to deflect attention from his party’s failures in governance.