The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday night arrested Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the case relating to the now-scrapped excise policy, hours after Delhi High Court declined to grant him protection against coercive action.
The AAP leader’s arrest came on a day the Congress accused the Narendra Modi government of stifling democracy and “crippling” the party by freezing its bank accounts in a tax dispute ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Kejriwal is the second Opposition chief minister after Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren to be arrested by the ED over the past two months. Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, minister Satyendar Jain and AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh are already in judicial custody in connection with the excise policy case.
In a dramatic move, a 13-member ED team reached Kejriwal’s residence around 7pm after the roads leading to the building were blocked and police personnel deployed at all the gates. Armed with a search warrant, ED sleuths searched Kerjriwal’s house before questioning him for some time. He was arrested around 9pm.
Reacting to Kejriwal’s arrest, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slammed the Modi government, saying: “Such a shameful scene is being witnessed for the first time in the independent history of India.”
In a post on X, she said: “Targeting Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in this manner due to elections is completely wrong and unconstitutional. Lowering the level of politics in this manner suits neither the Prime Minister nor his government.
“Fight your critics in the electoral battle, confront them boldly, and of course attack their policies and working style — this is democracy. But in this way, using the power of the country’s institutions to fulfill his political objective and weakening them by exerting pressure is against every principle of democracy.”
She added: “The bank accounts of the country’s largest Opposition party, Congress, have been frozen, all the political parties and their leaders are under pressure day and night from ED, CBI and IT, one chief minister has already been put in jail, and now preparations are on to send another CM to jail. Such a shameful scene is being witnessed for the first time in the independent history of India.”
AAP MLAs, councillors and activists gathered outside Kejriwal’s residence on Flagstaff Road in central Delhi and raised slogans but avoided any altercation with the police. Some of them were detained. The party has planned peaceful protests, including sit-ins and fasts, across Delhi and Punjab.
Delhi minister Atishi, who handles most of the portfolios in the city government, told reporters: “Arvind Kejriwal is, was and will remain Delhi CM. We have clarified from the beginning that if required, he will run the government from jail. No law prohibits this. He has not been convicted. He will remain Delhi CM. This struggle will go on. We have filed a case in SC to quash his arrest. For urgent mention our lawyers are going to SC now to demand a hearing tonight itself.”
She said just before his arrest: “People from all over Delhi will come because they love Arvind Kejriwal. He is their brother, son and a member of their family because he has transformed their lives.”
Party sources said they were prepared to fight even if President’s rule was imposed as the Delhi government had in any case been made ineffective through a new law that gives greater powers to the Centre over the capital.
Sources said Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak would handle Kejriwal’s political responsibilities and Atishi his responsibilities as chief minister. She will be assisted by minister Saurabh Bharadwaj. Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann will assist Pathak in representing the party in the INDIA bloc.
Earlier in the day, Delhi High Court refused to pass orders granting interim protection from coercive action at this stage to Kejriwal. He had moved the court challenging the summons issued to him by the ED and also filed an application seeking interim protection.
