Former Chief Minister of Delhi and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has come at loggerheads with the Election Commission of India (ECI) over his recent “Haryana poisoning Yamuna” claim. On Thursday (30th January), the ECI issued another notice to Kejriwal for his incendiary remarks against another state as he accused Haryana of poisoning Yamuna River which is a major source of water for the national capital.
The Commission has granted Kejriwal another opportunity to explain why action should not be taken for his serious allegations promoting disharmony, the enmity between different groups, overall public disorder and unrest.
The ECI asked the AAP Chief to provide factual evidence with specific and pointed responses to type, quantity, nature, manner of poisoning of Yamuna and details of engineers, location and methodology of detecting the poison by Delhi Jal Board engineers by Friday, January 30, 11 am, failing which the Commission will take appropriate decision in the matter.
In response to this second notice, Arvind Kejriwal, in a press conference, resorted to launching personal attacks on CEC Rajeev Kumar and claimed that he is doing politics to get a job post-retirement.
“I would like to tell ECI, that they can’t see open distribution of money in Delhi…ECI is doing politics because Rajiv Kumar wants a job after his retirement. I would like to tell him that history will not forgive him. He has damaged the Election Commission unlike anyone else in the history of India. I know they will put me in jail within two days. Let them. I am not afraid. The country has never seen elections like this before,” Kejriwal said.
#WATCH | AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal says, "I would like to tell ECI, that they can't see open distribution of money in Delhi…ECI is doing politics because Rajiv Kumar wants a job after his retirement. I would like to tell him that history will not forgive him. He has… https://t.co/gJgmD61wj6 pic.twitter.com/HwXts7gCox
— ANI (@ANI) January 30, 2025
Earlier, in its first notice, the ECI said that Arvind Kejriwal should not mix issues of increased ammonia in the Yamuna River with his serious allegations of Yamuna poisoning with mass genocide, equating acts of war between two nations.
ECI responds to AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal to not mix issues of increased ammonia in Yamuna with his serious allegations of Yamuna poisoning with mass genocide, equating with an act of war between two nations. pic.twitter.com/rnu4mRmOlE
— ANI (@ANI) January 30, 2025
The poll body also highlighted in the notice that the availability of sufficient and clean water is a governance issue and that all concerned governments at all times should engage in securing this for all the people. It found no reason for anyone to dispute this noble position and will leave it to the competence and discretion of governments and agencies, abstaining from arbitration on long-standing water-sharing and pollution issues during the brief election period, particularly where agreements and legal directives from the Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal already exist.
Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday, January 29, responded to the Election Commission of India (ECI) notice regarding his “poisoned water” remarks.
Kejriwal stated that the statements made by him were in “furtherance of an imperative public duty. Statements were made in furtherance of an imperative public duty to highlight the severe toxicity and contamination of raw water received from Haryana, which presents an imminent and direct threat to public health,” the letter signed by Kejriwal read.
Notably, both BJP and Congress have lodged complaints with the Election Commission against Kejriwal for making serious false allegations on Monday, January 27.
O Wednesday, January 29, the Haryana Government even lodged an FIR against Kejriwal over his controversial statement. Haryana Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Vipul Goel said that an FIR has been filed against Kejriwal for creating panic among the people of Delhi.
“An FIR has been sent to be registered under sections 2(d) and 54 of the Disaster Management Act for spreading misinformation and creating panic among the people of Delhi and Haryana”, Goel said.
“He should be ashamed of himself for making such irresponsible statements…The Cabinet Ministers and Prime Minister of the country also drink the same water… The people of Delhi will expel him from politics in the coming days”, he added.
Lashing out at Kejriwal during a public rally on Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi said that Yamuna water is consumed by everyone including himself. “Yamuna water is consumed by judges, diplomats as well as the poor. How can one think that Haryana will poison it to kill Modi”, the PM asked.
As reported earlier, Kejriwal recently accused the Haryana government of ‘playing dirty politics’ by attempting to commit mass genocide in Delhi by poisoning Delhi’s water supply. “The people of Delhi get water to drink from Haryana and UP. In Yamuna water flows into Delhi from Haryana. BJP’s Haryana government has poisoned the water in Yamuna. However, the Delhi Jal Board were vigilant enough to stop that water from coming to Delhi otherwise – that would have caused mass genocide in Delhi. The BJP government has mixed such kind of poison in the water that cannot be treated even by the water treatment plants”, Kejriwal alleged. He went on the compare this with the nuclear attack by the US on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
The BJP govt has mixed such kind of poison in the water that cannot be treated even by the water treatment plants. It has caused water scarcity in one-third of Delhi. Such politics is done by two enemy countries – like the USA bombed Japan with nuclear bombs. A few countries use biological weapons to poison river water. But, the same has been done by the BJP govt, ” Kejriwal said.
