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3 reasons Kejriwal gave to justify his allegation of Yamuna water being ‘poisoned’, EC not convinced

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal's comment had triggered a political row ahead of Delhi Assembly polls to be held on 5 February. EC has asked him to file a more specific & pointed reply by Friday.

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New Delhi: Dissatisfied with the response sent by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, the Election Commission of India (ECI) Thursday gave another opportunity to the former Delhi chief minister to explain his remarks on Yamuna being “poisoned” by the neighbouring Haryana government. The ECI has asked him to file a more specific reply by 11 am Friday.

In his response sent to the ECI on Wednesday, Kejriwal cited three major reasons why his claim that Haryana’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government had mixed poison in the Yamuna water coming to Delhi could not be constituted an offence. He was responding to the ECI’s notice that said he was promoting disharmony.

Firstly, in the 14-page letter sent to the ECI Wednesday, Kejriwal asserted that he made the statements in “public interest” to highlight “an urgent and alarming public health crisis concerning the deteriorating quality of drinking water in Delhi”.

His only intention was to raise an important public issue about extremely toxic raw water being supplied to Delhi and also to get safe drinking water for Delhi residents, Kejriwal said.

“The substance and purpose of these statements are rooted solely in the public interest, aimed at highlighting a legitimate civic concern that requires urgent institutional intervention.”

Secondly, he reiterated the allegation that the Yamuna water received from Haryana “recently is highly contaminated and extremely poisonous for human health”.

“That the contamination levels in the raw water are so extreme that the Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) in Delhi are unable to process it to bring it within safe and permissible limits,” he alleged in the letter, adding that the consumption of such “toxic” water “would lead to grave health hazard and fatality”.

To support his claim, he referred to a letter written by the chief executive officer of the Delhi Jal Board on 27 January that flagged the level of ammonia in the Yamuna water at Wazirabad pond.

Additionally, Kejriwal’s response highlighted the impact of high levels of ammonia on human health, including neurological impairment and encephalopathy, liver and kidney dysfunction, infant mortality risks, and bacterial outbreaks, among other things.

Thirdly, Kejriwal also said that calling his statements an offence could cause a chilling effect on his fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression, guaranteed under Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution of India.

Emphasising that safe drinking water is one of the most basic and essential requirements of any civilised society under the fundamental right to life (Article 21 of the Constitution), he said that raising concerns over the quality of water cannot be an offence.

“Mere criticism of administrative failures, particularly concerning environmental and public health hazards, does not constitute an offence,” he said in the letter.

He added, “The arbitrary criminalisation of legitimate public grievances would not merely stifle free speech but would also negate the foundational doctrine of India as a Welfare State, thereby subverting the constitutional obligations imposed upon the government to safeguard the well-being of its people.”


Also Read: Haryana CM Saini drinks from Yamuna, his govt files complaint against Kejriwal over ‘poisoning’ remark


ECI’s response & the controversy

However, in response, to these defences, the ECI Thursday issued another letter to Kejriwal, claiming that his response was “entirely silent on your public circulated” statement about poisoning of the river Yamuna by the Haryana government with an intention to cause “genocide in Delhi”.

It urged Kejriwal to respond to the allegations without mixing it with the issue of increased levels of ammonia in the Yamuna. Specifically, it has asked him what kind of poison had the Haryana government allegedly mixed in the water.

It also asked for supporting evidence on the quantity, nature and manner of detecting poison, the location where the poison was detected, and the methodology used by DJB engineers to stop the allegedly poisonous water from entering Delhi.

ECI has asked for a reply to be filed by 11am on Friday, failing which it would take a decision on the matter.

At a press conference Monday, Kejriwal claimed that the DJB CEO, in a letter, confirmed that ammonia had been mixed with the water supplied from Haryana, adding that he would not let the people of Delhi drink the “poisonous water” and die.

His comments triggered a political row ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections on 5 February. Results are expected on 8 February.

On Tuesday, the ECI issued a notice to Kejriwal, giving him time till 8 pm the next day to furnish his reply. The notice was issued on a complaint filed by the BJP as well as Congress’ Sandeep Dixit.

The Commission’s notice said Kejriwal’s allegations were “extremely serious in nature and unprecedented”.

“If true, this also has serious ramifications of creating enmity between the regional groups, residents of the neighbouring States, the threat of law-and-order situation due to actual or perceived shortage or non-availability of water, during this time of the year,” it said.

The ECI letter drew Kejriwal’s attention to Sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 197 (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 353 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, as well as Section 123(4) (publishing false statement is a corrupt practice) of the Representation of the People Act 1951.

On Wednesday, the Haryana government, through the State Disaster Management Authority also filed a criminal complaint against Kejriwal for allegedly spreading misinformation and creating panic in Delhi and Haryana with his “poisoned Yamuna” remark. Meanwhile, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini posted a video of himself drinking from the Yamuna.

Sonepat Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Goyal issued notice to Kejriwal on the complaint Wednesday, asking him to appear in person before the court on 17 February.

(Edited by Sanya Mathur)


Also Read: Politics is killing the Yamuna River. LG-CM war made it worse


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1 COMMENT

  1. The water with high ammonia content can create chloromine gas when treated in a water treatment plant which uses bleach. The chlomine gas can become a public hazard, read this article https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9503902/#:~:text=Chloramine%20gas%20is%20produced%20from,hypochlorite%20(bleach)%20and%20ammonia. I hope the ECI is an educated person, he should understand this. Unlike the uneducated BJP leaders. Dear Apoorva Mandhani, as a media guy you should mention about hazardous nature of processing water with high ammonia content in a water treatment plant.

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