Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, challenging him to arrest all top leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Kejriwal announced plans to lead a march to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters on Sunday in protest against the arrest of his personal assistant (PA), Bibhav Kumar.
Kumar was arrested on Saturday evening, accused of assaulting AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal on May 13 at the Chief Minister's official residence. This arrest followed Maliwal's filing of a first information report against Kejriwal's aide. AAP dismissed the allegations as fabrications, accusing the BJP of conspiring against Kejriwal.
In a virtual press conference shortly after Kumar's arrest, Kejriwal claimed that the BJP was targeting AAP leaders systematically. He listed several instances of AAP leaders being jailed, including himself, former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, former Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain, and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh. Kejriwal also mentioned threats of future arrests, including that of AAP MP Raghav Chaddha, who recently returned from London, and Delhi Ministers Saurabh Bhardwaj and Atishi.
Kejriwal, who was granted interim bail on May 10 in connection with the Delhi excise policy, criticized Modi's administration for its alleged "Jail ka khel" (game of imprisonments), stating, "You think that you will crush the AAP by putting its leaders in jail; it is not going to be crushed like this." He emphasized that the AAP's achievements in improving Delhi's schools, healthcare, and power supply were the real reasons behind the BJP's actions.
Kejriwal assured that the arrests would not weaken AAP, asserting that the party's ideals had deeply resonated with the people across the country. He boldly proclaimed, "This country will produce 100 times more leaders than the number of AAP leaders you put in jail."
Responding to Kejriwal's statements, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor dismissed the planned protest as another of Kejriwal's "melodramas," predicting that the people of Delhi would reject the AAP-Congress alliance in the upcoming elections on May 25.
