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Sunday, May 04, 2008
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New Delhi

Delhi BJP demands relief

Staff Reporter

From sealing and demolitions through an amnesty scheme

Photo: Anu Pushkarna

Up in arms: Delhi BJP activists on dharna in the Capital on Saturday protesting against sealing and demolition drives and rising prices.

NEW DELHI: To press for permanent relief for the Capital’s residents from sealing and demolitions through an amnesty scheme, the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party organised a sit-in demonstration at Jantar Mantar here on Saturday.

The protest was led by the Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Member of Parliament from South Delhi, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, and Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan. The protesters, who included a large number of people affected by the sealing and demolition operations, demanded that an amnesty scheme be brought at the earliest to end the atmosphere of fear and persecution.

Addressing the workers, Prof. Malhotra and Dr. Vardhan charged that the Congress which was ruling at the Centre and in Delhi had kept the cases of sealing pending since 2006. Prof. Malhotra said amnesty was the only way the people of Delhi could be saved from demolitions, sealing and unemployment. Unless the provision of amnesty was made in the Master Plan, the people would not get any relief, the said. “The Master Plan had been framed in a half-hearted and impractical manner and due to this people are not getting permanent relief,” Dr. Vardhan said.

Accusing the Congress of playing politics in the matter, he said whenever any election draws near the party starts talking about giving relief from sealing and demolitions. But while these actions get temporarily stopped till the elections, the sword of fear and apprehension continues to hang over the heads of the people and as soon as the elections end the drives resume. Dr. Vardhan also assured the party workers that the BJP would not hesitate to launch a “jail bharo” agitation over the issue if its demand for amnesty was ignored. Stating that the sealing drive was recently initiated for the fifth time in Delhi on court orders, he said such actions were taking place because neither the Centre nor the Delhi Government had properly presented the citizens’ case in the court and nor had they come out with a law for granting amnesty in the matter.

Several senior BJP leaders including the party’s vice-president Anita Arya, general secretary Vijay Goel, Leader of MCD House Subhash Arya, Delhi BJP general secretary Meera Kanwaria, MCD Standing Committee chairman Vijender Gupta and Delhi BJP secretary Sahab Singh Chauhan also addressed the protesters.

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