Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday made an emotional pitch to Delhi residents ahead of polls in Punjab, where his party is in power, and his return to jail.
In a webcast, Kejriwal said: “I will go back to Tihar jail the day after tomorrow. I don’t know how many days these people will keep me in jail this time. But my spirits are high. I am proud that I am going to jail to save the country from dictatorship. They tried to break me in many ways, tried to make me bow down, tried to silence me. But they did not succeed.”
He repeated a previous claim of jail-induced ill-health that the authorities have rejected.
He said: “I get injections in my stomach four times every day. In jail, they stopped my insulin injections for many days... my sugar reached 300, 325 (mg/dL). If the sugar remains so high for so many days, the kidney and liver get damaged. I don’t know what these people wanted, why did they do this…. When I went to jail, my weight was 70kg. Today it is 64kg. Even after being released from jail, my weight is not increasing. Doctors are saying that this can also be a sign of some major disease. Many tests need to be done... ketone level in my urine has also increased a lot.”
On May 10, the Supreme Court had granted 21-day interim bail to Kejriwal to enable him to campaign during the Lok Sabha polls and directed him to surrender on June 2.
The Supreme Court registry on Wednesday refused an urgent listing of Kejriwal’s plea seeking an extension of his interim bail by seven days for undergoing medical tests.
“Wherever I am, inside or outside the jail, I will not let the work of Delhi stop. Your free electricity, Mohalla clinics, hospitals, free medicines, treatment, free bus travel for women, 24-hour electricity and all other work will continue. And after returning, I will also start giving Rs 1,000 every month to every mother and sister,” Kejriwal said in his webcast.
He added: “My parents are very old, my mother is very ill, I worry a lot about her in jail. Take care of my parents after I am gone, pray for them, pray to God.”
