- Saturday, April 27, 2024
His arrest means the Aam Aadmi Party, one of the major opponents to PM Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, is virtually left rudderless ahead of the general elections starting next month.
By: Shubham Ghosh
ARVIND Kejriwal, a major face of the opposition in India, was arrested by the country’s financial crime-fighting agency on Thursday (21) in connection with allegations of corruption to the city government’s liquor policy, his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said.
Kejriwal, who is the convenor of the AAP, is also the chief minister of Delhi. He was arrested after the agency officials questioned him at his residence. His supporters staged a protest against the arrest and many of them were detained.
The arrest of Kejriwal, whose rise in Indian politics a decade ago was sensational as he launched a crusade against graft, could deliver a blow to the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance ahead of the general elections beginning next month.
The arrest also means the main leaders of the AAP are now in jail. Last year, two of Kejriwal’s deputies, including Manish Sisodia, were arrested in the same case, which the party has alleged as “dirty politics”.
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The agency, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), is probing allegations that a liquor policy implemented by the Delhi government two years ago, which ended its control over sale of liquor in the capital, gave undue advantages to private retailers. The policy was subsequently withdrawn.
Kejriwal was issued seven summons by the ED to appear before it in connection with the case but he skipped all of them.
Atishi, an AAP lawmaker from Delhi, said on social media that the party was seeking to quash the latest arrest.
“We have asked for an urgent hearing by the Supreme Court tonight itself,” she said.
The arrest of Kejriwal could not come at a worse time since the AAP is already grappling with the absence of its top leadership from action at a crucial period before the general elections.
The party, which is currently in power in Delhi and the northern state of Punjab, is also eyeing at expanding its footprint across the country and has tied up with the Indian National Congress to contest the general polls against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of prime minister Narendra Modi in states such as Haryana and Gujarat besides Delhi.
Kejriwal is the fulcrum of the party’s campaign and its star campaigner for the general elections. The party is already feeling the pinch of the absence of its senior leaders such as Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Sanjay Singh. Now the arrest of Kejriwal has landed the ruling party of Delhi in the doldrums.
On earlier occasions, whenever this question rose, the party maintained a tough stance saying it will fight it out, but there is no denying the fact that AAP’s think tank won’t find it easy to wriggle out of this problem.
The party’s campaign in Delhi, where it is contesting on four seats and in Gujarat, where it has fielded candidates on two seats, is centred around Kejriwal.
In Delhi, the party’s campaign is titled, ‘Sansad Mein Bhi Kejriwal, Toh Dilli Hogi Aur Khush Haal’ (Delhi will be prosperous when Kejriwal is in parliament) while in Gujarat, it is being run as ‘Gujarat Mein Bhi Kejriwal’ (Kejriwal is also in Gujarat). In Punjab, while the campaign is centred around state chief minister Bhagwant Mann, Kejriwal had been frequently travelling to the state, where the AAP is contesting all the 13 seats without an alliance with Congress.
At a press conference on March 19, Delhi Cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj had alleged that there was a conspiracy to arrest Kejriwal since his questions were making the BJP uncomfortable.
Inevitably, a question arose, ‘If Kejriwal is arrested, how will the party’s Lok Sabha campaign proceed in his absence?’
Earlier this week, Bharadwaj said that “The face will be Arvind Kejriwal. He is the only face that people trust and love. The strategy will be formed once we reach that stage.” Before Kejriwal’s arrest, the party, somewhere, at the back of its mind, was also hoping that he is not arrested considering his mass appeal and popularity, especially among the people of Delhi.
“The BJP also has a fear that their plan to arrest Kejriwal might backfire. Kejriwal’s arrest could lead people to revolt against the BJP in the polls,” a senior party leader had said when Kejriwal was being issued multiple summonses by the ED in an excise policy linked money laundering case.
Not only does Kejriwal’s arrest threaten to derail the party’s general election campaign, it could have long standing repercussions on governance in Delhi and the state elections lined up next year. For now, the party is maintaining a brave face and saying, ‘Ladenge, Jeetenge’ (we will fight and win) but the truth is that a bumpy road in the coming days awaits the 12-year-old party.
(With PTI inputs)
