Delhi is gearing up for fresh protests on Tuesday — with AAP chief Arvind Kerjiwal leading a peaceful march against “forced imposition” of the E20 petrol policy. The former Chief Minister has indicated plans to lead around 100 people to the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “personally hand over petitions signed by the public”. Criticism of the ethanol blending policy has surged in recent months as a growing number of people flag declining mileage and engine performance issues.

“I want to say that PM Modi should not come under pressure from US President Trump. He should stop buying ethanol from the USA and stop imposing E20 on our country. I hope that the Prime Minister will call us. We have sent a message to the Prime Minister saying that we want to meet him. The struggle will continue,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying.

Over 100 people march towards PM residence

“I will go to the PM’s residence along with 100 people to personally hand over the petitions signed by the public and discuss issues related to ethanol-blended petrol. People are facing several problems in their vehicles and despite all that the government is continuing with this, which means there is a hidden agenda,” Kejriwal had said at a press conference on Monday

The protesters made limited progress on their journey — with many sitting on the road in protest after being stopped by the police. An official source had told news agency PTI earlier on Tuesday that no permission was granted for the march and security arrangements were made to prevent any unauthorised procession.

AAP protests ‘forced imposition’ of E20 policy

The politician had also conducted a ‘national town hall programme’ on Monday to protest implementation of the E20 policy across India. Kejriwal alleged that the Centre was pushing E20 fuel as it “yielded” to US President Donald Trump to buy ethanol from his country. The former Delhi chief minister also said he had sent a letter to the prime minister last month seeking an appointment to discuss concerns over E20 fuel but received no response.

“On one side, they say E20 is good; on the other side, they say E20 is bad. One ministry says there is a difference of 2% to 5%, while another ministry says 4%. They haven’t conducted any study; they are just forcing the policy onto the people… Vehicles are getting damaged, and mileage is dropping. Why is the Government forcing this on people? What is the interest of the Government in this? E20 petrol is not good,” ANI quoted Kejriwal as saying.

The march would be the latest escalation in AAP’s campaign against the Centre’s E20 fuel policy. Kejriwal had earlier outlined three demands for the Centre: There should be an option for E20 and pure petrol at petrol pumps, E20 should be cheaper than pure petrol, and the price of petrol should be less than 84 rupees/litre.