New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will not speak at the C40 Climate Summit in Copenhagen this week as the Ministry of External Affairs did not give him clearance for the visit.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, along with six others, was to fly out of Delhi at 2 pm Tuesday to attend the international event in Denmark from 9 to 12 October. The CM had earlier sought permission from the MEA, according to the standard protocol.
“The decision has been taken keeping in mind the nature of the event and who are participating,” official sources in the MEA told ThePrint.
Invited as a leader of one of the world’s largest metropolises, the CM was to join heads from cities such as New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles and Berlin on the high table of urban powerhouses to deliberate on climate crisis impacting the world. Kejriwal was to also present a set of initiatives, including the odd-even scheme, taken by his government that had led to a 25 per cent reduction in air pollution in Delhi.
The CM was also slated to speak at another event of the summit called the ‘Asian Mayors and City Leaders Meeting on Low Carbon Inclusive Growth’.
Commenting on the delay of permission to Kejriwal, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had earlier said, “Each case is different and should be seen separately … I may not be in a position to answer person-specific queries on political clearance. I can only share that a decision on a political clearance is based on multiple inputs and takes into account the nature of the event, the level of participation by other countries, type of invitation extended, etc.”
ThePrint was unable to reach Kumar over the phone for a comment on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government said Tuesday Kejriwal would attend the Lav Kush Ramlila Committee’s Ravan Dahan programme at Red Fort ground Tuesday evening as chief guest.
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Earlier rejections
While the AAP’s social media team took to Twitter to condemn the Centre’s move, the CM has personally refused to comment on it. Sources told ThePrint that Kejriwal has decided to remain silent since he believes it wouldn’t have any impact on the central government.
Condemn Central Govt's delay in granting permission to Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal to attend climate change conference in Copenhagen.
Deja vu – when we organised a talk on Mohalla Clinics by @SatyendarJain and central govt refused.@ShaleenMitra @AamAadmiParty
— AAP-Australia (@AAPAustralia) October 8, 2019
Deputy CM and Education Minister Manish Sisodia was similarly refused permission in November 2018 to visit Austria and talk about the ‘Happiness Curriculum’ introduced by the AAP government in state schools.
Sisodia was also refused permission in August this year to attend the World Education Conference in Moscow.
Last year, Health Minister Satyender Jain was not allowed to travel to Australia to talk about the concept of mohalla clinics at the University of Melbourne.
(With inputs from Nayanima Basu)
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