NEW DELHI | The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday strongly condemned the stringent measures being taken by the BJP-led central government to prevent the protest at Jantar Mantar, with senior party leader and Punjab Prabhari Manish Sisodia describing the situation as akin to an ‘undeclared Emergency’. He said the cancellation of trains, closure of hundreds of shops and hotels, and internet shutdown to prevent people from reaching Jantar Mantar amounted to suppressing public voices, while imposing losses worth thousands of crores on lakhs of people to stop a single protest. The AAP Punjab Prabhari also announced that he would join the youth protest outside the Election Commission office in Chandigarh on Saturday.
In a post on X, senior AAP leader and Punjab Prabhari Manish Sisodia stated: “An undeclared Emergency has been imposed in the country. Vote Chori and arrogance go hand in hand. To prevent people from coming to Jantar Mantar and raising their voices, lakhs of train journeys have been disrupted, shops and hotels have been shut, internet services have been suspended, and lakhs of security personnel have been deployed on the streets. The government is imposing losses worth thousands of crores on millions of people just to stop one protest. No matter how much the public suffers, the vote thieves must not suffer any consequences.”
In another post, the AAP Punjab Prabhari asserted, “Our vote belongs to us. It is not anyone’s personal property that it can be snatched whenever someone wishes or stolen by whoever chooses to do so. I will also join the youth protest in support of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) outside the Election Commission office in Chandigarh on Saturday. I appeal to everyone to take to the streets against vote thieves. We will not tolerate the theft of the very votes through which governments are formed and changed.”
Meanwhile, senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said, “Everyone can see the situation prevailing in the country. Trains connecting different parts of the country to the national capital, Delhi, have been stopped. We had not even heard of such a situation during the Emergency. Someone may be travelling with a patient, someone may be going for a job, and someone else may have an urgent commitment. But people are being prevented from travelling because the government wants to protect a ‘vote-chor’.”
The AAP MP pointed out, “To protect the person who has gifted several governments to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bengal, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana and Maharashtra, more than 50,000 police personnel have been deployed. AAP workers are being arrested from their homes, detained and prevented from participating, while CJP leaders are also being picked up.”
Referring to arguments presented before the Supreme Court by Kapil Sibal and other lawyers, Sanjay Singh said the Chief Justice had questioned the need for such an excessive response. He asked why the government is so apprehensive about the protesters if, as he put it, they posed little threat.
The senior AAP leader questioned the government’s approach towards the Election Commission and raised concerns over the electoral revision process. “What is Prime Minister Narendra Modi so arrogant about? Questions have been raised about Gyanesh Kumar’s role in changes to Form 6 despite 14 objections being ignored, appeals seeking the deletion of 16 lakh voters’ names, and the unilateral decision to conduct the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) across the country. Under this exercise, the names of 13.37 crore people have been deleted,” he said.
Reiterating that the protest would go ahead, the senior AAP leader said, “The protest at Jantar Mantar will take place because it is our democratic and constitutional right, granted to us by the Constitution of India. We will all reach Jantar Mantar, and I will also be there on Saturday to support the CJP movement. The country has awakened against vote theft, and people will not remain silent when their electoral rights are at stake.”
In another post on X, Sanjay Singh said, “One lakh police personnel are being deployed to protect one thief. The situation in the country is worse than during the Emergency. Everything, from trains to the Metro, has been shut down. The country has awakened against vote theft. The ‘Gyanu-Modi’ vote-chor duo must go. See you at Jantar Mantar.”
