Veteran’s suicide triggers row, Kejriwal, Rahul detained

Veteran’s suicide triggers row, 
Kejriwal, Rahul detained

New Delhi: In an unprecedented move, police detained Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, 2^nd November 2016 after a veteran committed suicide over a scheme to equalize pension for ex-military personnel. Gandhi, detained twice during the day, was let off at night.

Kejriwal and Gandhi were detained amid demonstrations in the heart of the capital after they tried to meet the grieving family of Ram Kishan Grewal, who ended his life on Tuesday, 1^st November 2016 evening here.

Till the night the drama was contined. Police sources said that Kejriwal was released, but re refused to leave the Police Station. But Kejriwal tweeted that the report was wrong and he asked by police to stayback in the station.

Sisodia was detained in the morning after he met the dead man’s son at a hospital. “I went to meet the family, not to stage a dharna. What’s wrong with that? What kind of system is this, Modiji,” Sisodia asked, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Grewal’s son Jaswant said he, his younger brother and brother-in-law were beaten and taken to a police station when they tried to meet Gandhi. Demanding justice, he said he had never witnessed such police conduct vis-a-vis veterans’ families.

As the tug of war played out, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused Gandhi and Kejriwal of politicizing the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme announced last year.

Retired soldiers have been alleging that the government has not addressed their concerns fully about disparity in pension payments.

They resumed a relay hunger strike on Tuesday for rectification of anomalies in the OROP, which, among other measures, is meant to ensure equal pension to retired soldiers who served with the same rank and for the same duration, regardless of the year of retirement.

Grewal, 70, formerly of Rajputana Rifles, allegedly took poison at a park here on Tuesday evening and died demanding the immediate implementation of the scheme.

Before dying, he telephoned his son Jaswant and told him that he was committing suicide as a “sacrifice” for the nation, his family told the media.