Indian opposition leader arrested in case condemned by his party as ‘conspiracy’
Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, has been arrested in a corruption case, a move condemned by his party as a “conspiracy” by Narendra Modi’s government to target the opposition ahead of next month’s election.
Kejriwal, who is the leader of the Aam Aadmi party (AAP) and has been Delhi’s chief minister since 2015, was arrested at his home on Thursday night by a dozen officers from the enforcement directorate (ED), an investigating agency under central government control.
The case against Kejriwal relates to an ongoing investigation by the ED who have accused several senior AAP politicians in Delhi of corruption and taking kickbacks from an alcohol licensing policy.
It is the first time in independent India that a sitting chief minister has been arrested.
AAP minister Atish Singh called the arrest a “conspiracy by the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.
“Mr Kejriwal is not just a man, he is an idea. If you think arresting one Kejriwal can finish off the idea, you are wrong,” she added.
The arrest took place with less than a month to go before India’s elections, where Modi and his BJP government are seeking a third term in power.
Though relatively new and small compared to other opposition parties, AAP – which grew out of an anti-corruption movement – has won state elections twice consecutively in the capital, Delhi, and more recently in Punjab. Kejriwal has openly declared his intentions to grow AAP into a fully national party to challenge the might of the BJP and he has made himself a thorn in the side of the Modi government.
All the major opposition parties came out to condemn Kejriwal’s arrest. Rahul Gandhi, former leader of the main opposition Congress party, said that “a scared dictator wants to create a dead democracy”, in reference to Modi.
Shashi Tharoor, another Congress MP, said it was “clear that a systematic effort is on to subvert Indian democracy during our general elections”.
Earlier this year, Kejriwal was named as a “conspirator” in what is known widely as the Delhi liquor scam, and he was accused of being involved in money laundering. In recent weeks he had refused various summons to come in for questioning, alleging that the case was politically motivated and was being carried out by the ED “at the behest of the BJP”.
Manish Sisodia, who served as Kejriwal’s deputy in the AAP government, has been in jail for over in a year in the same case, and several others have been picked up in recent weeks.
On Thursday night, officers turned up at Kejriwal’s Delhi residence with a warrant and began conducting a search, before arresting him and taking him to the ED offices.
The party was vehement that Kejriwal would not resign and instead remain as chief minister and “run the government from jail”.
In statement on X, the party said: “The time has come for total revolution. The dictatorial government that is trampling the country, it’s time to overthrow it.” The party said they had moved to the supreme court immediately to challenge Kejriwal’s arrest.
Delhi BJP president, Virendra Sachdeva, praised the arrest, stating that “the truth had to prevail and Arvind Kejriwal had to be punished for his sins”.
The move comes as the BJP stands accused of accelerating a crackdown on political opponents and creating an uneven playing field for the upcoming elections. On Thursday, the Congress party claimed the BJP government had frozen their bank accounts in a tax case, “crippling” its ability to campaign.
“We have no money to campaign, we cannot support our candidates. Our ability to fight elections has been damaged,” said the Congress leader, Gandhi.
He added: “The idea that India is a democracy is a lie. There is no democracy in India today.”