Delhi Ministers' Sit-In Dharna At L-G's Office Enters Fourth Day, Hundreds Of AAP Workers Join

The Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia along with senior ministers Gopal Rai and Satyendar Jain started an indefinite protest at Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal’s office on Monday. Today marks the fourth day of the sit-in dharna. The protest began after the L-G refused to accept the demands set by the AAP, mainly about ending the ‘strike’ of the bureaucrats for the last four months.

Yesterday, hundreds of Aam Aadmi Party leaders and workers gathered outside the L-G’s office to support the protesting ministers. Health Minister Satyendar Jain has been on a hunger strike since Tuesday, and Manish Sisodia joined him today.

इतने बाजु इतने सर, गिनले दुश्मन ध्यान से ,
हारेगा वो हर बाजी जब खेले हम जी जान से… #लड़ेंगे_जीतेंगे ✊#March4Democracy pic.twitter.com/v6NYVozOq6

— Sudhir Bhardwaj (@SudhirBhardwaj) June 13, 2018

“We are not sitting here for ourselves. We are sitting here for the people of Delhi, for schools, water, mohalla clinics, so that the people of Delhi get the facilities,” Kejriwal said in a video message from LG’s office after completing 48 hours of protest, reported The Indian Express. Former BJP leader, Yashwant Sinha, also joined the protest. He blamed Rajnath Singh for not taking any initiative to resolve the impasse. “The Centre is sleeping. There are no reports to show that Rajnath Singh is taking it seriously. Why hasn’t your voice reached the PMO and the Home Ministry?”

.@YashwantSinha at AAP’s #March4Democracy: “I was thinking if Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister today what would he have done? He would hv ordered the Union Home Mimister to sit with the elected Chief Minister of Delhi @ArvindKejriwal and find a solution to this impasse." pic.twitter.com/fQbO0mObHS

— NationalForum (@RashtraManch) June 13, 2018

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also lent support to Kejriwal’s protest. She tweeted that “@ArvindKejriwal, CM of Delhi is sitting in a dharna in LG’s office for the last few days in the capital city of the country. Elected CM must get due respect. May I appeal to the Govt of India and @LtGovDelhi to resolve the problem immediately so that people do not suffer.”

. @ArvindKejriwal, CM of Delhi is sitting in a dharna in LG’s office for the last few days in the capital city of the country. Elected CM must get due respect. May I appeal to the Govt of India and @LtGovDelhi to resolve the problem immediately so that people do not suffer

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) June 13, 2018

A timeline of the protest

On Monday, June 14, in an attempt to convince Mr. Baijal to pass an order to end the strife and also to gain approval of delivery of ration scheme, the group led by the Delhi CM reached the L-G office located at Raj Niwas at 5:30 PM. After the L-G refused to meet the demands, all of them decided to stay at his office indefinitely.

The Delhi CM tweeted the demands placed by the AAP and the letter handed over to the L-G. Additionally, he said that even after meeting the L-G several times in person and through letters, he remained a mute spectator. He said, “We were told by officers that they were being issued threats from the L-G House. This means that the L-G does not want to end the strike. We met him again yesterday (Monday) and said we would not leave till the strike ends.”

4 of us met Hon’ble LG-myself, Dy CM, Satender Jain,Gopal Rai. We presented following demands-

1. IAS officers on strike in Del for 4 months. Direct them to return to work

2. Punish those IAS who struck work for last 4 months

3. Approve doorstep delivery of rations

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 11, 2018

The L-G’s office recorded a statement denying all allegations of bureaucrats’ strike. “There is no strike by employees of GNCTD, and in his continued interactions with officers, it has been informed that the atmosphere of mistrust and fear continues and no sincere attempts to resolve the differences have been made so far. Hon’ble LG continued to advise Hon’ble Chief Minister to build the confidence of the employees at all levels and to work out ways of addressing their genuine concerns,” reported News18.

Atishi Marlena, the architect behind the Government School revolution in Delhi, elucidated the work which had suffered because of the bureaucratic strike. She said that in the last 112 days work has suffered. AAP leader Sanjay Singh in a press conference said that work was being stalled at Mohalla Clinics, CCTV cameras, doorstep delivery of ration because of the bureaucrats’ strike.

BJP’s counter-protest

To counter the protest by the AAP party members, BJP workers and rebel AAP legislator Kapil Mishra sat on a dharna outside Arvind Kejriwal’s office for “non-performance” yesterday. The opposition leader of the Delhi assembly, Vijender Gupta, and lawmaker Manjinder Singh Sirsa said they would continue the sit-in till their demands are met by the AAP government.

“Until the chief minister assures to provide water to the people, we will continue our sit-in”, said. Mr Gupta. He also said that the BJP legislators tried to raise the water shortage issue in the assembly, but they were marshaled out.

“We have called on people to reach the CM office to raise the problem of water supply,” Mr Gupta said.

Earlier on the day, Delhi BJP unit chief Manoj Tiwari staged a protest with demands of water and electricity in front of the Delhi Secretariat.