With the assembly elections in Delhi around the corner, the war of words over Yamuna waters has intensified, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress attacking the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over Arvind Kejriwal's “poison in Yamuna” remark.
With Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini warning the AAP chief of legal action, its INDIA bloc partner Congress has questioned the authenticity of his statement.
Speaking to ANI, the Haryana CM said, “Arvind Kejriwal should immediately apologise to the people of Haryana and Delhi for his statement; otherwise, we will file a defamation suit against him.”
Questioning Kejriwal's claim, Saini said, “Kejriwal said that the engineers of the Delhi Jal Board stopped the water from coming to Delhi because they found out that it was poisoned. I want to ask Arvind Kejriwal on which day this happened. How did the engineers conclude that it was poisoned?"
The Haryana CM said Kejriwal should tell what and how many tonnes of poison were added. "How was the water stopped at the border? Was any gate built? Where was it built, how much time did it take, and how much did it cost? Where did the water that they stopped go? How many fish died due to this poisonous water,” said Saini.
He further attacked Kejriwal for doing "cheap politics" over the "holy river" Yamuna which is worshipped by many.
“Kejriwal has today insulted the land where he was born. The people of Haryana consider Yamuna a holy river and worship it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Congress slammed Kejriwal's comment, saying, “if a common man alleges the government of genocide, he will be in jail the very next day,”. The Congress also demanded action against Delhi's former CM.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla attacked Kejriwal for trying to divert attention from real issues by using the "ABCD" tactic—Accuse, Blame, Conspiracy, and Divert.
"Shoot and scoot, ABCD—Accuse, Blame, Conspiracy, and Divert—these are the tactics being used by Arvind Kejriwal. Now, to divert the issue, Arvind Kejriwal is disrespecting the people of Haryana by saying that Haryana has poisoned the water of river Yamuna," he said.
Accusing the AAP chief of lying, Congress asked him to present evidence of his claims.
“Arvind Kejriwal should explain what kind of poison was there (in water). He is lying and still allowed to roam free. If a common man alleges the government of genocide, he will be in jail the very next day,” Congress candidate from the New Delhi assembly constituency, Sandeep Dikshit, said.
“I am surprised that no action is being taken against him by Haryana Police or Delhi Police. Where is the Election Commission? I think either there is an internal alliance between both the parties (AAP and BJP) or these institutions aren't worried about such issues, even if people get panicked. A case was registered against a person who gave a bomb threat to schools in Delhi. Either what Arvind Kejriwal is saying is true—then he should extend evidence—and if not, there must be a case registered against him,” he added.
Meanwhile, Delhi CM Atishi defended Kejriwal.
“When AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and I exposed the BJP's conspiracy regarding poisonous water, BJP, through the LG, put pressure on the officials of the Delhi government and made the CEO of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) write a letter and release it. They wanted to show that there is no issue, but truth is truth. The letter that was written by DJB—it has been clearly written that the water treatment plant of DJB can treat water up to 1 ppm of ammonia only, or by the dilution of more water—the range can be increased to 2 to 2.5 ppm. But, as of today, 6.5 ppm of ammonia is there in the water of the Yamuna River. It means six times more ammonia is there in the water of Yamuna that is being released by the BJP's Haryana government," she said.
Kejriwal on Monday had claimed that the people of Delhi were getting dirty and poison-mixed drinking water from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, both BJP-ruled states.
The AAP chief further appreciated the Delhi Jal Board engineers for identifying the "poison" mixed in Yamuna waters coming to the national capital.
“The BJP has done such an act that has never been seen before. People of Delhi get drinking water from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The BJP-led Haryana government has mixed poison in the Yamuna water coming to Delhi. Thanks to Delhi Jal Board engineers who caught this, they stopped that water at the Delhi border and didn't let it enter Delhi. Had that water entered Delhi and got mixed with drinking water, several people would have died,” said Kejriwal.
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