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HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, on Wednesday, 9 October, quoted protocol while reacting to the Centre’s call to deny political clearance to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to attend the C-40 Climate Summit in Denmark. Javadekar said it was meant for “mayor-level” participants.
Kejriwal was expected to speak at the summit on his government's experience in lowering air pollution in the city and present the set of initiatives taken by the AAP dispensation that led to the 25 percent reduction in air pollution.
Responding to a question on the issue of permission, Javadekar added that a West Bengal minister is going to attend the event.
Sources later said a separate protocol is followed for chief ministers and rejected claims that opposition parties were being targeted.
Kejriwal was to lead an eight-member delegation for the summit, slated to begin on 9 October and end on 12 October.
The chief minister was reportedly scheduled to leave for the summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, at 2 pm on Tuesday, but could not take the flight as the MEA denied him the political clearance to attend the meeting.
‘Other Dignitaries Not As High-Ranked as Kejriwal’: MEA
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the participation of Kejriwal at the panel discussion was not ‘commensurate with the level of participation from other countries’.
“A considered decision on political clearance by the Ministry of External Affairs is based on multiple inputs and takes into account the nature of the event, the level of participation by other countries, type of invitation extended, etc. In the instant case, the participation of Chief Minister of NCT of Delhi as a Speaker at a panel discussion was not commensurate with the level of participation from other countries. The Chief Minister of one of the largest and populous cities in the world, which also is the capital of India, was therefore advised not to attend the event,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
‘Unfortunate’, Says AAP
The AAP termed the Centre's decision to withhold the clearance “unfortunate”, saying it would affect India's image.
“The MEA has not offered on what grounds they have not given clearance for Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to travel to Denmark for the Climate Summit. There has been no official statement from the MEA also on this,” Akshay Marathe, AAP’s media coordinator told The Quint.
AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said he wondered why the Centre was “so much” angry with the AAP government.
“Kejriwal was not going on a vacation but to tell the world how Delhi managed to reduce its air pollution by over 25 percent through its schemes like odd-even,” Singh told reporters.
Singh said the Centre's decision will “affect India's image on the global stage and send a wrong message in the international community”.
“What will the people think about how our federal structure works. Why is there so much anger against us from the Centre?” Singh said.
The MEA, however, gave clearance to West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, claimed sources.
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