New Delhi: With the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arresting him at his residence for alleged corruption, and the police detaining and ferrying away his supporters in buses, life has come full circle for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who started as an anti-corruption crusader in 2011.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief was interrogated at his residence for several hours Thursday before he was arrested by the central agency and take to its headquarters. By then, his supporters and AAP workers and leaders had gathered outside his residence in hundreds. As the ED cavalcade made its way towards headquarters, multiple police units, including the Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel, had to keep the swelling crowds at bay.
On 26 August 2012, Kejriwal and fellow activists were lathi-charged and detained during protests outside the residence of then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, then prime minister Manmohan Singh and then BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
Nearly 12 years later, Kejriwal and those supporting him face a similar situation. But this time, the one in power in the national capital and answerable for alleged irregularities in the 2021-22 Delhi excise policy case, is Kejriwal himself.
The ED has alleged that Kejriwal is the kingpin and key conspirator behind the Delhi excise policy ‘scam’.
After news of the ED team arriving at Kejriwal’s residence in Delhi’s Civil Lines spread, top cabinet ministers such as Saurabh Bhardwaj and Atishi arrived at the scene, talking to the media and formulating tactical moves in case of the CM’s arrest.
The case has already landed several high-profile Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders — former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Singh, and AAP campaign manager Vijay Nair — in jail.
Last week, the ED also arrested Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Kavitha in the case. She is the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
Supporters out on streets, detained
The Delhi Police stepped into action after AAP leaders and workers and Kejriwal’s supporters gathered outside his residence to protest his arrest. Police officers detained and took away several of the protesters to maintain law and order.
Senior officers of the rank of deputy commissioner of police (DCP) and additional DCP briefed their subordinates about how to handle the crowd. Then the anti-riot RAF also arrived at the scene.
During the protests, AAP MLAs Rakhi Birla, Sanjeev Jha, and Rituraj Govind Jha were detained as the police struggled to clear the traffic on the main road that connects the northern part of Delhi to other areas.
Jha told ThePrint the action taken by the ED in the excise policy case appeared to purely be a political move as the BJP has realised it cannot win over the hearts and minds of the people in Delhi, and Kejriwal is the undisputed leader of the capital.
‘Born of revolution, can’t be corrupt’
The ED team arrived at Kejriwal’s residence around 6.45 pm Thursday. Sources in the agency had suggested the arrest was “imminent”, but the ED handed Kejriwal the arrest memo and grounds of arrest only after 9 pm.
Searches continued at Kejriwal’s residence before the ED team headed out with him to the agency’s headquarters around 11 pm. More than 500 people had assembled in front of Kejriwal’s residence by then.
One of the protesters, Amit Wadia (47) told ThePrint that the central government was using the playbook of a government that is afraid of its opponents. “What it has done is wrong at so many levels. First, it arrested him after the Model Code of Conduct came into force. The AAP was banking on Kejriwal to campaign in the upcoming elections. The arrest clearly shows the Modi government’s fear about the AAP. It is adopting every possible measure to stop the AAP and Kejriwal,” he said.
Wadia said he has been voting for AAP since Kejriwal founded the party.
About the fate of the party after his arrest, Vinod Goswami, an ardent AAP supporter, said the party is here to stay and give the BJP a run for its money.
“A party or organisation born in a revolution stays irrespective of challenges. It’s only those who come out of thin air who also vanish in thin air,” Goswami told ThePrint.
He further said that Kejriwal has forced other political parties to make basic public requirements poll issues and he can not buy that Kejriwal is corrupt.
“He was born out of the anti-corruption movement. Can someone tell all of us assembled here that Kejriwal has gone corrupt? That’s impossible to believe,” Goswami said.
‘No resignation, government from jail’
Before the ED team whisked Kejriwal away, Atishi announced a significant political decision by Delhi’s top leadership.
She and other AAP leaders had been saying that Kejriwal might be arrested in the case. On Thursday night, when their worst fears were coming true, they took a call that Kejriwal would not resign before handing over custody to ED.
Last month, when the ED arrested then-Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, he resigned from his party, paving the way for Champai Soren to take over as the new chief minister. The AAP, however, has taken a call that Kejriwal will be its binding force irrespective of his fate in the case.
“We have already said that Kejriwal will remain the CM. No rule bars him from running the government from jail. He has not been convicted in this case,” Atishi told reporters.
After the ED departed from Kejriwal’s residence, Saurabh Bhardwaj addressed a press conference and said the ED found Rs 70,000 in cash at Kejriwal’s home but did not confiscate it, but seized a phone belonging to Kejriwal’s wife.
Bhardwaj said Kejriwal filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking the quashing of his arrest, but ThePrint Thursday night learned that there will be no special hearing in the case since there is no special bench.
However, the Delhi CM withdrew his petition in the apex court Friday. He will be moving a lower court challenging his arrest, according to reports.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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