Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal declared on May 18th that he and fellow AAP leaders would be visiting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters on May 19th. Kejriwal extended an open invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating that they would willingly face incarceration if the Prime Minister so desired.
This bold move came in the wake of the arrest of AAP aide Bibhav Kumar in connection with an alleged assault on party parliamentarian Swati Maliwal. Kejriwal denounced the BJP’s claims that AAP MP Raghav Chadha and Delhi Ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj would also be apprehended.
Kejriwal remained defiant, stating that the AAP could not be subdued by imprisoning its leaders. Accusing Prime Minister Modi of engaging in a game of arrests against prominent AAP figures such as Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, and Sanjay Singh, Kejriwal declared, “I, along with my MLAs and MPs, will visit the BJP office at noon tomorrow so that the Prime Minister can send anyone he wants to jail.”
Kejriwal extolled the virtues of the AAP, emphasizing that it represented an idea that could not be stifled by incarceration. “For as many AAP leaders you jail, the country would produce leaders a hundred times more,” he proclaimed. Kejriwal attributed the AAP’s perceived “fault” to its success in improving Delhi’s infrastructure, establishing Mohalla Clinics, providing free healthcare, and ensuring round-the-clock electricity supply – achievements that the BJP had been unable to match.
Kejriwal himself has been arrested in connection with an alleged money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy scam. The Supreme Court has granted him interim bail until June 1st to enable him to campaign in the Lok Sabha polls. He is required to surrender and return to custody on June 2nd, the day after the final phase of polling.
