On 21st June, Delhi Water Minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi Marlena began an indefinite hunger strike demanding that Haryana release Delhi’s “rightful” share of water. The national capital has been experiencing a severe water scarcity, with the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state of Haryana, she alleged, reducing the city’s water supply, directly impacting about 28 lakh residents. Sunita Kejriwal, the wife of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, was among the prominent AAP leaders present during the event which she to as “Paani Satyagraha.”
However, the Delhi unit of BJP has termed the fast as a sham and wrote, “What kind of indefinite satyagraha is this, where Atishi goes to eat and rest in an AC room during lunchtime and at night? A big scam is going on.” The party also shared a video of empty chairs as well as the podium with images of Atishi Marlena and Arvind Kejriwal in the background on social media to drive the point home.
ये कौन सा अनिश्चितकालीन सत्याग्रह है, जहां आतिशी लंच के समय और रात में AC कमरे में खाने और आराम करने चली जाती हैं !
— BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) June 22, 2024
गजब का घोटाला चल रहा है 👇 pic.twitter.com/vrXM0sbrP5
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa also uploaded a video to question the Delhi minister and charged, “AAP’s minister Atishi Marlena claims it to be her second day of hunger strike and is going to the temple. First of all, I don’t understand how the followers of Marx and Lenin could visit temples. What can be a bigger fraud than this? This is equally fake as her hunger strike. She disappears during the day and in the evening. She takes her meals and then claims to be fasting.
He added, “If you truly choose to go on a hunger strike, do it in opposition to the tanker mafia and the MLAs from your party who have embezzled crores from the mafia while denying the Delhi people access to water. Arvind Kejriwal used to criticize the same tanker mafia in his videos, claiming that they have looted crores from Delhi and taken their water. If voted to power he would destroy their unjust authority. Atishi stop your drama and provide water to the citizens of Delhi.”
Atishi Marlena, a Minister from AAP, stages a so-called hunger strike but disappears in the afternoon & evening, and today on the second day she went to the temple. Marlena and temple, Marx and Lenin started going to the temple…
— Manjinder Singh Sirsa (@mssirsa) June 22, 2024
This is fraud, If she truly cares, she should… pic.twitter.com/bePBrk5H5J
The Delhi Jal Board should have made preparations for the water problem earlier, according to BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj, considering that the weather agency had repeatedly warned of the extreme heat. The MP further questioned why, given that the AAP is in government in both Delhi and Punjab, they had not requested water from the Bhagwant Mann government. The AAP leader’s decision to stage her protest at Bhogal was reportedly motivated by her intention to run in the Assembly election the following year from the Jangpura seat, according to the BJP.
