India / Call in the army, says Kejriwal after fresh violence in east Delhi pockets

New Delhi: As a fresh round of violence erupted in two east Delhi localities, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday asked Home Minister Amit Shah to call the army to instil confidence in people. Kejriwal said the police, despite all its efforts, had been unable to control the situation.

“Army shud (should) be called in and curfew imposed in rest of affected areas immediately,” the Aam Aadmi Party boss tweeted on Wednesday morning. Kejriwal said that he would also write to Home Minister Amit Shah to make the request.

20 people have been killed in the violence that started off as clashes between pro- and anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act groups over the weekend before degenerating into communal violence.

The army can only be called at the request of the civil administration of the state concerned. Chief Minister Kejriwal, however, doesn’t have a say in Delhi because the national capital is a union territory with a legislature. Police and public order comes under the central government, controlled by the home ministry via Lt Governor Anil Baijal.

Chief Minister Kejriwal, however, has been under intense pressure to play a more active role in quelling the violence than he has played over the last few days. Earlier in the morning, students of Jamia Millia Islamia had also attempted to gherao his residence to push him to do more. Police had stepped in promptly, used water cannon to disperse them and then detained them at a police station.

Kejriwal’s tweet, which upped the pressure on the BJP-led national coalition to order a police crackdown on rioters in the national capital, came after reports about a fresh round of violence in east Delhi’s Chand Bagh and Gokulpuri.

Delhi Police, which has been blamed for its inability to stop the rioters right from Sunday, has also faced accusations that police personnel had, in quite a few places, taken sides and gone soft on one group.

Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party also stepped up its attack, tweeting attacks at the Centre for failing to control the law and order situation in Delhi. Concluding that Home Minister Amit Shah had failed to control the situation, AAP also nudged the home ministry to act against BJP lawmaker Abhay Verma.

Verma had landed in a major row on Tuesday evening after a video emerged that showed him walking through his constituency with a group in east Delhi that raised provocative slogans. He has denied the charge, claiming that he had hit the streets only to defuse tension.