Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Tuesday hit out at the Centre over detention of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, alleging that the central government wants the opposition to be silenced and anyone who speaks, to be jailed.

The Delhi Cabinet Minister met the leaders of the Trinamool Congress who were detained by the city police here while they were holding a dharna outside the Election Commission’s office, demanding that the chiefs of the central probe agencies be changed.

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Bharadwaj arrived at Mandir Marg police station to meet TMC leaders.

Speaking to reporters here, the AAP leader slammed the ruling party at the Centre, calling the detention of the TMC leaders a “blatant dictatorship”.

He said there is a Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in the country, adding that the entire government machinery should come under the Election Commission.

“But ED, CBI and NIA raids are being conducted on opposition parties. The central government wants the opposition to be silenced and anyone who speaks, to be jailed. This is a complete dictatorship,” Bharadwaj said.

“There is blatant dictatorship going on in the country!!” the AAP leader said.

“What are TMC MLAs and MPs saying? MCC is in force. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is campaigning all over the country, CBI, IT, ED and now NIA has also reached the opposition leaders, but only against the opposition parties, why? This shows that these institutions have now come under the control of the Election Commission and have been given free rein to derail the campaign of opposition parties.

”If you raid someone’s house, will that person campaign or meet a lawyer?” Bharadwaj said.

Asserting that his party stands with Trinamool Congress, the AAP leader questioned the Delhi Police that why it did not arrest the BJP leaders who held a rally in the CP area a day before.

“MCC is implemented in the country. All agencies and government functioning should come under neutral EC, but the way ED and NIA raids are being done on opposition leaders shows that the Central government wants to silence the opposition in this Lok Sabha elections. TMC MPs and elected representatives are detained at a police station in New Delhi. Their demand is that the four agencies — ED, CBI, I-T and NIA — which have caused ‘tandav’, their heads (chiefs) should be changed…. We stand with Trinamool Congress,” he said.

“BJP did a demonstration in CP, who gave permission for it? They were not arrested. Was a case registered against Virendraa Sachdeva (Delhi BJP president)?” he asked.

A delegation of Trinamool Congress leaders has been protesting inside the Mandir Marg police station in Delhi since Monday night against their detention, even though the police claimed they were already released.

During the dharna outside the ECI office, the TMC leaders demanded that the chiefs of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA) Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax Department be changed.

Those who staged the protest included five TMC MPs Derek O’Brien, Mohammad Nadimul Haq, Dola Sen, Saket Gokhale and Sagarika Ghosh. Three former MPs Arpita Ghosh, Shantanu Sen and Abir Ranjan Biswas were also present.

Along with them, MLA Vivek Gupta and TMC youth leader Sudeep Raha were also protesting.