New Delhi:

“Drink if you dare” – Arvind Kejriwal’s dramatic response to the Election Commission’s demand for proof to back claims the BJP’s Haryana government attempted “genocide” by mixing “poison” in Yamuna water supplied to Delhi. “We have four bottles… will send to each one of them… please drink and show us. Then we will believe,” he said, pointing to a row of plastic bottles filled, he said, with Yamuna water.

Hours earlier the EC directed Mr Kejriwal submit “factual evidence” by 11 am Friday.

It also sought answers to five questions, including what kind of ‘poison’ was used, who detected its presence, and how and where it was found. In its letter, the poll body dismissed last night’s submission – a social media post in which Mr Kejriwal cited Delhi Jal Board data that said ammonia levels in the Yamuna had reached critical levels, and that it was “extremely poisonous for human health”.

The EC acknowledged receipt of claims of a “sharp increase in ammonia levels in the water”, but indicated it would not concern itself with the AAP’s allegations of “deliberate act of water terrorism”. This issue, it said, would be left to the “competence and discretion of governments”.

Instead, the poll body rebuked the former Delhi Chief Minister for being “entirely silent… on your widely circulated… statement of ‘poisoning of Yamuna by Government of Haryana with intention to cause genocide in Delhi’ (and) equating it with an act of war between two nations”.

“… no factual and legal matrix, with evidence, has been provided to support your statement.”

Prima facie these comments, the EC also said, had been found as “promoting disharmony and enmity between different groups, and overall public disorder and unrest…”

That such allegations have been made “at a delicate time of peak of campaign (for next week’s Delhi Assembly election)”, the EC continued, “prima facie, pose a serious risk of endangering peace and harmony between states”. The poll panel then gave time to file a “specific and pointed reply”.

The row over ‘poison’ in the Yamuna erupted Monday after Mr Kejriwal accused the BJP of having contaminated the water supply to “create chaos… hoping the blame will fall” on his party.

READ | Row Over Kejriwal’s “Haryana Mixing Poison In Yamuna Water” Claim

His remarks were amplified Chief Minister Atishi, who accused the BJP of “water terrorism” and wrote to Lieutenant Governor, VK Saxena, to red-flag dangerous levels of ammonia – 700 times the limit.

READ | In “Yamuna Poison” Row, Atishi’s “Nadir Shah” Jab At Lt Governor

The BJP hit back hard, first with Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini counter-accusing Mr Kejriwal of making “blatantly false and disgusting statements” and demanding he apologise.

Then Prime Minister Narendra Modi waded in; at an election rally in Delhi Wednesday evening he thundered that his party wouldn’t dare ‘poison’ the same water he drinks every day, and claimed Mr Kejriwal was trying to divert attention from failed promises to clean the Yamuna.

READ | “Can Haryana BJP Govt Poison Water I Drink?” PM Blasts AAP

And, last evening, in a dramatic video shared online, Mr Saini drank a handful of water directly from the river at the point it flows past a Delhi village. The video was quickly questioned by the AAP, which claimed the Chief Minister had, in fact, spat out the water instead of drinking it.

The BJP’s Haryana unit countered, accusing Mr Kejriwal of having shared an “edited” video.

READ | Kejriwal Says Haryana Chief Minister “Spat Out” Water, BJP Responds

The Congress has also jumped in the fray, with senior party leader Rahul Gandhi reminding Mr Kejriwal of his pre-2020 election promise to drink, one day, from the Yamuna to signify its purity.

A case has also been filed against the AAP leader in a Haryana court.

The Delhi Jal Board, meanwhile, has also rubbished Mr Kejriwal’s allegations about ‘poison’ in the Yamuna. However, the water body chief’s statement was questioned by Atishi, who suggested he may have been coerced by the BJP, through the Lt Governor’s office, into saying it.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

New Delhi:

Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, bearing the brunt of criticism over his pre-poll allegation that Haryana is poisoning waters of the Yamuna, today responded to the Election Commission with data about pollution of the river that flows through the heart of Delhi.

In his reply, Mr Kejriwal cited a letter from the Delhi Jal Board that maintains that ammonia levels in the river has reached such levels that the water purification plants cannot perform at full capacity.

“The verifiable fact remains that Delhi, as a lower riparian state, depends on raw water supply from Haryana, an upper riparian state, for potable water,” the letter read.

Days ahead of the assembly election in Delhi, Mr Kejriwal had claimed that the BJP was “mixing poison” in the city’s water supply in an attempt to “create chaos… hoping the blame will fall” on his party’s administration.

“The people of Delhi get drinking water from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh… but the Haryana government has mixed poison in the water coming to Delhi from the Yamuna and sent it here… it is only due to the vigilance of our Delhi Jal Board engineers that this water was stopped,” he had said. 

Mr Kejriwal’s claim had drawn fire from the BJP as well as the Election Commission, which demanded that he back up his claim with evidence and warned that such comments that can cause rifts between the people and a breach of peace, are a punishable offence.

But Mr Kejriwal said in his letter that “Facts prove no violation of any law or any code has been committed”.

“I beseech and most humbly request Election Commission to intervene on the major issue of availability of safe water and pass appropriate directions to the State of Haryana so that safe quantity of water is made available to the citizens of Delhi,” he added.

The BJP and the Congress have challenged Mr Kejriwal over his poisoning of Yamuna claims. While the BJP accused him of lying, today Congress’s Rahul Gandhi said, “Five years ago, Arvind Kejriwal said that he would take a bath in the Yamuna River and drink the water of the Yamuna River. It has been five years, and to date, Kejriwal ji has not drunk the water of Yamuna”.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, meanwhile, shared a 57-second video, where he is seen at the bank of Yamuna, splashing water and taking a sip. 

“I drank the water of the holy Yamuna on the Haryana border. (Delhi Chief Minister) Atishiji did not come. She must be making up a new lie (but) lies have no legs. That is why the lies of AAP-da (the BJP’s new pejorative for the AAP) are not working,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

New Delhi:

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena wrote to Chief Minister Atishi on Tuesday, alleging that AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal’s accusations that “poison” is being mixed in the Yamuna water and there was an “attempt of genocide” in the national capital are highly objectionable and unfortunate, and amount to endangering national security.

Citing media reports, Saxena said the former Delhi chief minister’s allegations against the BJP-led Haryana government of poisoning the Yamuna river and attempting a “genocide” in Delhi are “highly objectionable, unfortunate and undesirable”.

“Making false, misleading, non-factual accusations of poisoning and genocide over a sensitive issue like drinking water and attempting to incite the public against another state government is not only a threat to the states involved but also to national peace and security,” he said in the letter to the chief minister.

The Lt Governor also pointed out that instead of condemning Kejriwal’s statements, Atishi strengthened the “confusion and fear” among people by writing a letter to the Election Commission (EC) over the matter.

Saxena said he expects the Delhi chief minister to rise above “narrow interests” and refrain from making “misleading, dangerous, and baseless statements, and advise the AAP convenor to do the same for the sake of public welfare and peace”.

Delhi’s water crisis took a sharp political turn on Monday, with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Kejriwal accusing the Haryana government of indulging in “biological warfare”.

In a fiery post on X, he alleged, “Poison is being mixed into the Yamuna to make its water untreatable. If people in Delhi consume this water, many will die. This is nothing short of a mass murder.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has been asked to furnish proof backing his allegation that the BJP government in Haryana has poisoned the Yamuna water. The Election Commission, which asked him to produce evidence by 8 pm tomorrow following a BJP complaint, said in its letter that it was a serious allegation that could create animosity between states and carried a provision of a three-year jail term.

Days ahead of the assembly election in Delhi, Mr Kejriwal had claimed on Monday that the BJP was “mixing poison” in the city’s water supply in an attempt to “create chaos… hoping the blame will fall” on his party’s administration.

“The people of Delhi get drinking water from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh… but the Haryana government has mixed poison in the water coming to Delhi from the Yamuna and sent it here… it is only due to the vigilance of our Delhi Jal Board engineers that this water was stopped,” he had said. 

The claim, though, was contested by the Chief Engineer of the Jal Board who said it could lead to fear-mongering among the people.

The Election Commission, in its letter to the former Chief Minister, raised similar concerns. 

“The electors tend to believe whatever is being said in public by their leaders and in that sense, the statement, if not true, affect the campaign discourse,” the letter read. 

The allegations are also “extremely serious in nature and unprecedented,” the letter added.

“If true, this also has serious ramifications of creating enmity between regional groups, residents of neighbouring states, threat of law-and-order situation due to actual or perceived shortage of non-availability of water,” the Commission wrote.

New Delhi:

The AAP and BJP continue to bicker as the clock ticks down to next week’s Delhi Assembly election, with ex-Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal now accusing the latter of “mixing poison” in the city’s water supply, in an attempt to “create chaos… hoping the blame will fall” on his party’s administration.

Speaking to reporters Monday, he said the BJP had done “something that may never have been done in history”. He claimed the saffron party – in power in neighbouring Haryana – had added a poisonous substance to the Yamuna river that flows through that state and into the national capital.

“The people of Delhi get drinking water from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh… but the Haryana government has mixed poison in the water coming to Delhi from the Yamuna and sent it here… it is only due to the vigilance of our Delhi Jal Board engineers that this water was stopped.”

“It (the allegedly poisoned water) was stopped at the Delhi border… we did not allow it to enter the city. We have seen such things in wars but today, what the BJP did by mixing poison in Delhi’s water supply, is an attempt to create chaos in Delhi, hoping blame will fall on the AAP.”

Delhi: AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal says, “In the upcoming elections in Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has done something that may never have been done in history. The people of Delhi get drinking water from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The Haryana government,… pic.twitter.com/vswQA87M7h

— IANS (@ians_india) January 27, 2025

According to reports, the “poison” Mr Kejriwal was referring to is ammonia.

High ammonia levels in the Yamuna has been a problem as the Delhi government scrambles to ensure round-the-clock, and clean, water supply for the city’s residents; by some accounts the capital needs over 3,000 million litres of water per day, whereas the usual supply is only about 2,000 MLD.

The shortfall has been exacerbated by high ammonia levels, the AAP has claimed.

BJP Slams “Baseless” Charges

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has denied Mr Kejriwal’s claim. “It is their nature and thinking to accuse and run away…” he said at an event in Chandigarh.

Chandigarh: Regarding Aam Aadmi Party’s allegations that Haryana is supplying toxic water to Delhi, Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini says, “It is their nature and thinking to accuse and run away…” pic.twitter.com/JO3L8juyvk

— IANS (@ians_india) January 27, 2025

Mr Saini’s rebuttal was backed, more forcefully, by Labour Minister Anil Vij. “Arvind Kejriwal is a factory of lies… take journalists and experts to the place where the Yamuna enters Delhi and check the quality of water. Then check in Delhi… they will see the difference,” he said.

#WATCH | Chandigarh: Haryana Minister Anil Vij says, “Arvind Kejriwal is a factory of lies… Take all journalists and analysts to the place where Yamuna enters Delhi and check the quality of water, and then check the quality of water in Delhi. They will see the difference. Its… pic.twitter.com/bJiJtaPLXj

— ANI (@ANI) January 27, 2025

“It is not our job to check clean the river in Delhi… it was Kejriwal’s, which he couldn’t do.”

Election Commission Wants Report

Meanwhile, AAP leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and her Punjab counterpart, Bhagwant Mann, met the Election Commission earlier today to make this complaint. The poll body sought a detailed report from the Haryana government by noon tomorrow, i.e., January 28.

The debate around the cleanliness and potability of Yamuna water is of particular significance now, since these were assurances made by AAP boss Arvind Kejriwal before the 2020 Delhi election.

Neither promise, though, has been fulfilled, and Mr Kejriwal is aware of this issue.

READ | Arvind Kejriwal On 3 Delhi Promises He “Could Not Fulfil”

Last week he admitted to Delhi voters he had failed to ensure Yamuna water is both clean and drinkable, but insisted this will become a reality if his AAP is voted to a third consecutive term.

“I am truthful to my promises. Either I fulfil them or I admit I promised but couldn’t do it. I could not fulfill three promises – cleaning the Yamuna, providing clean drinking water, and making Delhi’s roads of European standards,” Mr Kejriwal said at a rally in Delhi’s Laxmi Bai Nagar.

He repeated that admission – a tactic seen as trying to take the sting out of attacks by the BJP on this topic – this morning as he released another section of his party’s pre-poll manifesto.

BJP Targets Kejriwal Over Yamuna

Unfortunately for the AAP, Mr Kejriwal’s acknowledgement has not stopped the BJP’s attacks. Union Home Minister Amit Shah took a jab as he took a dip in the Ganga today during Maha Kumbh.

READ | “Take That World-Famous Dip”: Amit Shah’s Yamuna Dare To Kejriwal

“He [Mr Kejriwal] promised he would purify River Yamuna in seven years and modify it just like London’s River Thames,” Mr Shah said at a rally.

#WATCH | #DelhiElections2025 | Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, “He promised he would purify the Yamuna River in 7 years and modify it just like London’s Thames River… He even said he would take a dip in the Yamuna in front of Delhiites. Arvind Kejriwal, the people of Delhi… pic.twitter.com/44rsVKJy5m

— ANI (@ANI) January 25, 2025

“He even said he would take a dip in the Yamuna in front of Delhiites. Arvind Kejriwal, the people of Delhi are waiting for your world-famous dip in the Yamuna. If not in Yamuna, he can go to the Mahakumbh and take a dip over there to get rid of his sins,” Mr Shah said.

According to a Delhi Pollution Control Committee report from October 2023, multiple projects to clean the river are running behind schedule. The report filed with the National Green Tribunal drew particular attention to delays by the Delhi Jal Board and the Delhi Development Authority.

This is not the first time a BJP leader has dared Mr Kejriwal to take a dip in the polluted stretch. Earlier, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath accused him of “turning the holy Yamuna into a dirty drain”.

With input from agencies

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.