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AAP hogs limelight at Opposition rally at Ramlila Ground

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, March 31: The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) competed to grab slices of skyline in the national capital. The Opposition held a rally at the Ramlila Ground in a show of strength on Sunday ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “aiming to fix the match” in the Lok Sabha elections. Sunita Kejriwal, wife of Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, emerged as the show stopper. She declared that Arvind Kejriwal is a lion. “They cannot keep him in jail for a long time,” she added.

Rahul Gandhi argued: “Two of the players of the Opposition were arrested as part of a conspiracy to fix the match”. He didn’t mention Arvind Kejriwal and former Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren by their names.

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But the world media is headlining the Opposition rally with Arvind Kejriwal. Turkey’s TRT World headlined, “Indian Opposition unites in ‘Save Democracy’ rally as key leader arrested”. Germany, the Us, and the United Nations have made strong comments on the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal.

TRT World picked up a photograph of the crowd showing images of Arvind Kejriwal. It noted: “The investigating agency, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), has started probes against four chief ministers and their family members.”

The Pakistani daily, Dawn, also spotlighted Arvind Kejriwal in its coverage of the Opposition rally at the Ramlila Ground. The Indian National Developmental and Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) consisting of 26 political parties on Sunday held their joint rally at the Ramlila Ground in the old Delhi area.

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Dawn headlined: “Indian Opposition protest arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ahead of polls.” The Congress on Saturday had asserted that the Ramlila Ground rally was not about individuals. The chairman of the communication department of the Congress, Jairam Ramesh, had dismissed the suggestions that the Opposition was holding the rally to protest the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal.

Dawn took the AFP copy to cover the Opposition rally at the Ramlila Ground. AFP is an international news agency. AFP stated that the Opposition in India decried “autocracy” in protest against the arrest of a senior colleague.

There was no mention of Hemant Soren. Dawn used an image of Arvind Kejriwal addressing a public meeting. Dawn reported that a large number of the people at the venue sported images of Arvind kejriwal behind the bar. Dawn also added that a large number of the police personnel were deployed.

Ground reports suggest that the AAP was able to pull a large number of crowds from the national capital and Punjab. The Delhi unit of the Congress also brought supporters to the venue.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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