AMN / WEB DESK
Opposition leaders belonging to INDIA bloc on Thursday came down heavily on BJP-led Central government soon after an Enforcement Directorate team arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the now-scrapped liquor policy case.
Reacting to the probe agency’s crackdown on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to X and said that now arrest of elected chief ministers has become a common thing. He also said that Opposition-led INDIA bloc will give a befitting reply to this.
“A scared dictator wants to create a dead democracy. While capturing all the institutions, including the media, breaking up the parties, extorting money from companies, freezing the account of the main opposition party was not enough for the ‘devilish power’, now the arrest of the elected Chief Ministers has also become a common thing. INDIA will give a befitting reply to this,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that targetting Kejriwal ahead of Lok Sabha polls was “completely wrong and unconstitutional”.
She also said that lowering the level of politics in this manner suits neither the Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor his government.
“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,” Priyanka Gandi Vadra said in a tweet in Hindi.
“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 all the institutions of the country to fulfill one’s political objective and weakening them by exerting pressure is against every principle of democracy,” she added.
The Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Supriya Sule called the ED crackdown on Delhi Chief Minister a politically motivated arrest at the behest of BJP government.
“I stand in solidarity with @ArvindKejriwal ji. This is yet another politically motivated arrest by the ED at the behest of the BJP Government to suppress the voice of the opposition & undermine the electorate at large. We are resilient and united in our fight for constitutional democracy,” Supriya Sule said.
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien wondered how to expect a fair election if sitting chief ministers and prominent opposition leaders are arrested weeks before polls?
“We vehemently condemn the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, an elected CM, especially when EC is in charge & MCC is in place. Earlier his administrative powers were snatched through an illegal ordinance. How can we expect fair elections in India if sitting CMs & prominent opposition leaders are arrested weeks before polls? If SC & ECI fail to act now, who will stand with people against BJP’s oppressive politics in future?” he tweeted.
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after a sudden raid conducted by the probe agency at his residence in connection with an Delhi liquor policy-linked money laundering case.
The arrest, the first of a sitting Chief Minister, came hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant protection to the AAP national convenor from any coercive action by the federal probe agency.