Ending months of suspese, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal arrested by ED in Delhi liquor policy case

 Arvind Kejriwal arrested by Enforcement Directorate in Delhi liquor policy case 

Onetime a key proponent of Lok Pal and anti-corruption crusader AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by probe agency ED following questioning at his residence in connection with the liquor policy case on Thursday evening (March 21, 2024) 

 

It's a sort of a record as Kejriwal is the first sitting Chief Minister in Independent India to be arrested.  Kejriwal's legal team has approached Supreme Court for an urgent hearing.

The arrest came hours after the Delhi High Court refused interim relief to the AAP supremo in connection with the Enforcement Directorate nine summons issued to him in the liquor policy case.

In the evening, Enforcement Directorate officials arrived at Kejriwal's Civil Lines residence to serve him summons. The probe agency conducted searches at his residence and recorded the Chief Minister's statement under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).  

The court listed the Chief Minister's application seeking protection for further consideration on April 22 when his main petition challenging the summons was fixed for hearing.

Hours after the Court's order, a team of Enforcement Directorate reached the Delhi Chief Minister's residence in Civil Lines.

The probe team conducted handed over the tenth summons to Kejriwal and questioned him inside his residence.

The probe team also conducted searches at the Chief Minister's home. Soon, several AAP leaders and workers flocked outside Kejriwal's home and argued that they were being denied entry into the residence.

Delhi Minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj said that ED officials are inside Kejriwal's house and no one is allowed to enter. "Delhi CM's house has been raided. It seems there is preparation to arrest the Chief Minister," Bhardwaj said.  

NCP (SCP) chief Sharad Pawar tweets: "Strongly condemn the vindictive misuse of central agencies to target the opposition, especially as general elections loom. This arrest showcases the depth to which BJP will stoop for power. ‘INDIA’ stands united against this unconstitutional action against Arvind Kejriwal."  

BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia says, "The people of India and especially the people of Delhi are welcoming the arrest of the blatantly dishonest Arvind Kejriwal. It has become clear that Arvind Kejriwal is the kingpin of the liquor scam..."  

Tamil Nadu CM and DMK chief MK Stalin tweets, "Ahead of Elections 2024, driven by fear of a decade of failures and the imminent defeat, the Fascist BJP Govt sinks to despicable depths by arresting Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal...Not a single BJP leader faces scrutiny or arrest, laying bare their abuse of power and the decay of democracy."

(SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

Broom Revolution - BJP's loss of face – a tempest in a teacup ??

It took more than 36 hours for a hard nut like Narendra Modi to get back his equanimity as for almost two days he had practically vanished from social networking. There is no denying that the Delhi 2015 verdict left a shocker for him more than to the BJP.

                                                                                           

Namo's silence appeared more than eloquent. Modi has been an active netizen and had given unto himself the role of the sole spokesman for him and his entire government since May 2014. Thus it was not without good reason that BJP leaders and union ministers remained clueless for days on how Modi would react to the Delhi mandate details. “The BJP still does not want to face the fact that Modi’s spell has waned,” wrote columnist Kuldip Nayar, of course a renowned apologist for anti-Modi journalism. But even the other school of thought including a few admirers suggested that Modi must own up the responsibility of Delhi disaster and that itself will be the first step to take corrective measures.

As someone who always had high regards for Modi's ability to read people's pulse, I ought to make a frank and a bitter statement: Narendra Modi’s biggest failure was to break the 'Delhi caucus'. The Mandate 2014 was precisely meant for bringing a change. From Arun Jaitley to Ajit Doval....he should have taken care of these table-experts. This is where Namo has let down his admirers.

In this blog site itself I have a link of an interview I had given to Matters India where I spoke highly about Modi's "ability to read the pulse of his people". http://mattersindia.com/modi-has-unique-ability-to-read-peoples-pulse/

But in retrospect if Modi detractors got a golden opportunity to lambaste him and ventilate their 13 year long frustration after AK-67 victory, it is the Prime Minister who ought to be blamed. Of course the part of the blame goes to two of his lieutenants Amit Shah and Jaitley whom he trusted more than they had the merits. 

The anti-corruption movement and strive for clean polity that Denizens had associated with Kejriwal, one-time lieutenant of Anna Hazare, had collapsed in February 2014 when he had resigned. It has no doubt, now eroded with this very aggressive mandate. The AAP vote share was a record 54.3 as against 32.2 of BJP while a modest all time low 9.7 per cent for Congress. The seats tally –unheard off in recent times -  AAP – 67, BJP- 3 and Congress scored a neat ‘zero’. Dalit messiah Mayawati’s BSP too could not open its account.

The Prime Minister’s alleged silence on highly unwarranted episodes like Ghar Wapsi (re-conversion) and attacks on churches had heightened fears of religious intolerance. This alienated Muslims and Christians and on the other hand Kejriwal could expand his middle-class base as Delhiites generally including Hindus thought Modi was getting his priorities changed from ‘people welfare’ in the country to over-emphasis on winning over world leaders like Barack Obama. The negative campaign simply boomeranged and what Modi fail to understand that is perplexing as it is he who benefited the rich dividends of 13-year-long 'negative campaign' against him. 

Delhi spoils you and absolute dependence on Delhi's "ho jaega" culture can get anyone wrong.

From Jaitley to Ajit Doval, his powerful National Security Adviser, are actually Delhi media's creation. So is Kiran Bedi and also Arvind Kejriwal. And this is more frightening than anything else. In the wake of Delhi drubbing while party circles in BJP headquarter is abuzz about Jaitley's utter failure as poll manager as he mishandled Delhi polls even in 2009; it will be difficult to find real sharp attacking articles against Jaitley in the national press. 

The reason could be Jaitley's off-the-record briefing club and so we have selective amnesia!! This has happened despite Kirti Azad's powerful words on the first day itself. In this blog itself I had called Doval, 'man of the year - 2015' in a posting on December 17, 2014. (See http://bestofindiarestofindia.blogspot.in/2014/12/man-of-new-year-2015-ajit-doval-eyes.html) 

Doval matters in Modi Sarkar

2020 - Feb .... BJP lost Delhi assembly polls for the second time::

The BJP was trounced in the Delhi assembly polls against the expectations of its top leaders, as the saffron party trailed far behind the AAP that returned to power with 62 seats in the 70-member legislature.

Although the BJP managed to improve its vote share to over 39 percent as compared to 32.19 percent in the 2015 elections, the increase did not materialise in sufficient number of seats to bring the party back to power after a gap of over two decades.

The party managed to win 8 seats, registering a slight increase from the three it had bagged in 2015.

Some BJP leaders believe the defeat was mainly contributed by the "hyper-nationalist pitch" of the poll campaign that focused on the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh and also lack of any answer to Kejriwal government's freebies including power and water supply and free rides to women in public transport buses.

"The party had planned to promise a bouquet of free services to people including water and power as well as benefit of the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, but the idea was shelved and it could not become a part of the election manifesto," said a senior Delhi BJP leader.

In the over three-week long high voltage campaign for the polls, the BJP leadership including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party chief JP Nadda as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi assailed AAP and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over a host of issues including the Shaheen Bagh protest against the amended citizenship law and their alleged failure to come up with schools, hospitals and other facilities promised by them.

Shah would end his election speeches by appealing to people to press the electronic voting machine (EVM) buttons with such anger that its "current" was felt at Shaheen Bagh.

Objectionable statements also came from BJP leaders like MP Parvesh Verma and Union minister Anurag Thakur resulting in the Election Commission imposing temporary bans on campaigning by them.

The opposition AAP and Congress accused the BJP of running a campaign of "division and hatred" in the elections.

A section of Delhi BJP leaders held that the party went "overboard" while focusing on its agenda of "Hindutva and nationalism" in the campaign.

"With party leaders seen prompting slogans like 'shoot the traitor' and giving speeches and terming a chief minister as terrorist in election campaign, you cannot expect to have a positive response from the masses," said a top BJP leader.

Some BJP leaders also cited lack of a chief ministerial face, organisational shortcomings, failure to reach out to voters in unauthorised colonies and JJ clusters, and differences of leaders in Delhi party unit as possible reasons for the party's "humiliating" defeat.

However, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari rejected the charge of opposition parties that his party fought the polls on a "divisive" agenda.

"We do not practice politics of hatred, our principle is 'sabka saath sabka vikas'. In elections much is talked about as per emerging developments. But, we would never want that some people block a road for protest and cause problems to others. We opposed it (Shaheen Bagh road block) in the past and still do," Tiwari said.

Tiwari, however, said the causes of BJP's debacle will be "reviewed" on the party forum.

He also rejected the claim that AAP's freebies like power and water supply were not countered well by the BJP in its campaign.