Modi, Rahul Gandhi slam Kejriwal over Yamuna water contamination allegations

Earlier in the day, Haryana's Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Vipul Goel said the state government will file a case against Kejriwal over his remark.

New Delhi: Amid an escalating row over AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s claim of Haryana poisoning the Yamuna water, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday lashed out at former Delhi chief minister, alleging that he has failed to fulfil his promise to clean the river in the last 10 years.

Later in the day, Kejriwal responded to the Election Commission (EC) notice over his claim that the Haryana government was “mixing poison” in Yamuna and said raw water received from the state recently has been “highly contaminated and extremely poisonous” for human health.

In a related development, a court in Haryana’s Sonipat on Wednesday summoned Kejriwal on February 17 on a complaint over his claim that the BJP-ruled state was mixing “poison in the Yamuna” river. The court of Sonipat Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Goyal issued a notice to Kejriwal in the matter.

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Polling for the 70-member Delhi Assembly will take place on February 5 and counting of votes will be undertaken on February 8.

In his reply to the EC, the former Delhi chief minister said his remarks were made in context of an “urgent public health crisis” over drinking water quality in the city.

In the 14-page reply to the EC, he said the “alleged statements” attributed to him were made as his public duty to highlight the “severe toxicity and contamination” of raw water received from the BJP-ruled state.

Kejriwal also said the ammonia level in raw water received from Haryana was so “extreme” that water treatment plants in Delhi are unable to process it down to safe and permissible limits for human consumption.

Unfazed by attacks from his political rivals, Kejriwal reiterated his claim that the BJP-led Haryana government had put poison named ammonia in the Yamuna but the AAP-led Delhi government saved people by diverting the toxic water.

Addressing a BJP rally in east Delhi, Modi termed the AAP supremo’s allegation “disgusting” and said “AAP-da people” have turned desperate fearing their defeat in the Delhi polls.

Saying that he has been drinking the Yamuna water for 11 years, the prime minister asked people, “Can anyone imagine that the BJP government in Haryana was trying to poison me?”

Kejriwal’s claims are an insult not just to Haryana but to all Indians, he said. “It is an insult to Indian culture, an insult to our character.”

The ‘AAP-da’ will drown in the same river, Modi said.

“A former CM has made malicious allegations against the people of Haryana. AAP-da people have become desperate due to the fear of defeat. Is Haryana different from Delhi?

“Don’t they have children and relatives in Delhi? Will they mix poison for their own people?” Modi said.

Modi said not only the people of Delhi but also himself, diplomats and judges staying in the national capital drink the same water that comes from Haryana.

“Can anyone think that to kill Modi, the Haryana BJP has mixed poison in water? Was there a conspiracy to kill judges in Delhi? What are you talking about? It is in the character of Indians to forgive mistakes but neither Delhi nor India forgives sins committed with ill intention,” he said.

Further hitting out at the AAP, he said during the last two elections, the party asked for votes on the promise of cleaning the Yamuna and now it says that the issue does not yield votes.

“This is fraud and shamelessness. They want to make people struggle for water and want Purvanchalis to do Chhathi Maiyya’s puja surrounded by garbage,” he said.

Addressing a rally in Delhi, senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also attacked the AAP leader, saying Kejriwal reneged on his promise of bathing in and drinking Yamuna water and challenged him to drink the water from the river.

“He (Kejriwal) ran a corrupt government. Modi ji lies in his speeches and just like him, Kejriwal does the same. Five years ago, he (Kejriwal) had stated that he would take a bath in the Yamuna and drink its water.

“Five years have gone by and he did not do so. You have to drink dirty water but Kejriwal lives in ‘sheesh mahal’ which is worth crores and he lies to you,” the former Congress chief said.

Hitting back, the AAP supremo accused the Congress of indirectly aiding the BJP.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini condemned Kejriwal for spreading fear among people for his political gains, calling his statement “unfortunate and irresponsible”.

Saini also drank Yamuna’s water to demonstrate its purity when he visited the river near Dahisara village at the Delhi-Haryana border.

Later, Kejriwal accused Saini of “pretending” to drink Yamuna water and then spat some of it back into the river, saying they wanted Delhi people to consume the same “poisonous” water.

On social media platform X, Kejriwal shared a video of Saini performing Achman (sipping holy river water) at Yamuna bank in Haryana.

“Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini pretended to drink Yamuna water… and then spat the same water back into the Yamuna. When I said that Yamuna water could be dangerous for the lives of Delhiites due to ammonia contamination then they threatened to lodge an FIR against me.

“They want to make the people of Delhi drink the same poisonous water which they themselves can not drink. I will never let this happen,” Kejriwal said in the post.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi lashed out at Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena and accused him of “bowing to political interests”, amid Kejriwal’s allegations of “poisoning” of Yamuna by the BJP government in Haryana and attempting “genocide” in Delhi.

Saxena in a letter to Atishi on Tuesday registered his objection to the “false, misleading” statement of Kejriwal and her defence of it, saying it has potential to create animosity with neighbouring Haryana and endanger national security.

Earlier in the day, Haryana’s Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Vipul Goel said the state government will file a case against Kejriwal over his remark.