New Delhi:
“Drink in case you dare” – Arvind Kejriwal‘s dramatic response to the Election Commission‘s demand for proof to again claims the BJP’s Haryana authorities tried “genocide” by mixing “poison” in Yamuna water equipped to Delhi. “We have now 4 bottles… will ship to every considered one of them… please drink and present us. Then we’ll consider,” he mentioned, pointing to a row of plastic bottles crammed, he mentioned, with Yamuna water.
Hours earlier the EC directed Mr Kejriwal submit “factual proof” by 11 am Friday.
It additionally sought solutions to 5 questions, together with what sort of ‘poison’ was used, who detected its presence, and the way and the place it was discovered. In its letter, the ballot physique dismissed final evening’s submission – a social media submit wherein Mr Kejriwal cited Delhi Jal Board information that mentioned ammonia ranges within the Yamuna had reached vital ranges, and that it was “extremely poisonous for human health“.
The EC acknowledged receipt of claims of a “sharp enhance in ammonia ranges within the water”, however indicated it will not concern itself with the AAP’s allegations of “deliberate act of water terrorism”. This problem, it mentioned, can be left to the “competence and discretion of governments”.
As a substitute, the ballot physique rebuked the previous Delhi Chief Minister for being “completely silent… in your broadly circulated… assertion of ‘poisoning of Yamuna by Authorities of Haryana with intention to trigger genocide in Delhi’ (and) equating it with an act of warfare between two nations”.
“… no factual and authorized matrix, with proof, has been supplied to help your assertion.”
Prima facie these feedback, the EC additionally mentioned, had been discovered as “selling disharmony and enmity between totally different teams, and general public dysfunction and unrest…”
That such allegations have been made “at a fragile time of peak of marketing campaign (for subsequent week’s Delhi Meeting election)”, the EC continued, “prima facie, pose a severe threat of endangering peace and concord between states”. The ballot panel then gave time to file a “particular and pointed reply”.
The row over ‘poison’ within the Yamuna erupted Monday after Mr Kejriwal accused the BJP of getting contaminated the water provide to “create chaos… hoping the blame will fall” on his social gathering.
READ | Row Over Kejriwal’s “Haryana Mixing Poison In Yamuna Water” Claim
His remarks had been amplified Chief Minister Atishi, who accused the BJP of “water terrorism” and wrote to Lieutenant Governor, VK Saxena, to red-flag harmful ranges of ammonia – 700 occasions the restrict.
READ | In “Yamuna Poison” Row, Atishi’s “Nadir Shah” Jab At Lt Governor
The BJP hit again laborious, first with Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini counter-accusing Mr Kejriwal of constructing “blatantly false and disgusting statements” and demanding he apologise.
Then Prime Minister Narendra Modi waded in; at an election rally in Delhi Wednesday night he thundered that his social gathering would not dare ‘poison’ the identical water he drinks on daily basis, and claimed Mr Kejriwal was attempting to divert consideration from failed guarantees to wash the Yamuna.
READ | “Can Haryana BJP Govt Poison Water I Drink?” PM Blasts AAP
And, final night, in a dramatic video shared on-line, Mr Saini drank a handful of water straight from the river on the level it flows previous a Delhi village. The video was rapidly questioned by the AAP, which claimed the Chief Minister had, the truth is, spat out the water as a substitute of consuming it.
The BJP’s Haryana unit countered, accusing Mr Kejriwal of getting shared an “edited” video.
READ | Kejriwal Says Haryana Chief Minister “Spat Out” Water, BJP Responds
The Congress has additionally jumped within the fray, with senior social gathering chief Rahul Gandhi reminding Mr Kejriwal of his pre-2020 election promise to drink, one day, from the Yamuna to signify its purity.
A case has also been filed against the AAP leader in a Haryana court.
The Delhi Jal Board, in the meantime, has additionally rubbished Mr Kejriwal’s allegations about ‘poison’ within the Yamuna. Nevertheless, the water physique chief’s assertion was questioned by Atishi, who steered he could have been coerced by the BJP, by the Lt Governor’s workplace, into saying it.
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