NEW DELHI: AAP national convener and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday stepped out of Tihar jail where he was lodged since late March after Supreme Court granted him bail in the CBI case in connection with the alleged excise policy scam.
Wasting no time to thank his supporters and party workers and attack ruling BJP at the Centre, Kejriwal, said “I have always fought with these anti-national forces and will keep on doing it. My fault was not that I committed any corruption, my fault was that I raised my voice against those anti-national forces so I had to go to jail.”
“Efforts are being made to weaken and judiciary, and threaten the judges. Now, efforts are being made to weaken the Election Commission and capture the ED and CBI,” he said,
Addressing his supporters from the rooftop of car, Kejriwal, donning a blue shirt, led chants of “Inquilab Zindabad” and “Vande Mataram,” said, “They put me in jail. They thought that by putting me in jail, they will break my morale. My resolve has grown 100 times stronger and my strength has grown 100 times...The thick walls of the jail and the bars cannot break me.
The CM sought the blessings of his parents who welcomed him with traditional rituals. He hugged party collogue Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Delhi former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha.
‘Caged parrot’
The SC granted bail to Kejriwal in case lodged by the CBI in connection with the excise policy ‘scam’, saying prolonged incarceration amounts to unjust deprivation of liberty.
Observing that Kejriwal’s arrest by the CBI was unjustified, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan came down heavily on the CBI, saying it must dispel the notion of being a “caged parrot”.
‘BJP lies’
The AAP demanded that the BJP apologise to the country for keeping “staunchly honest” leader Arvind Kejriwal in jail and asserted that the Supreme Court bail in the excise policy case has exposed the saffron party’s “lies” while dubbing central probe agencies CBI and ED as its “tota-maina”.
Sunita Kejriwal, wife of the Delhi chief minister, congratulated the party leaders and workers on her husband getting bail in the excise policy-linked money laundering case filed by the CBI.
Talking to reporters, senior party leader Manish Sisodia claimed the Supreme Court’s observation makes it clear that the BJP was using the CBI and the ED as its “tota-maina” to keep the AAP supremo behind bars as part of its conspiracy.
“The BJP should be ashamed for using ‘tota-maina’ ED and CBI for arresting opposing leaders,” he said.
“The BJP intended to keep Kejriwal in jail, so the CBI arrested him after he got bail in the ED case. The CBI fulfilled the intentions of the BJP,” Sisodia alleged, adding that the bail order is a “big slap on the BJP’s face”.
Attacking the BJP, AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said, “It has been proved by the Supreme Court’s order that you can not do away with Babasaheb’s Constitution, finish democracy, popularity of Arvind Kejriwal and elected government of Delhi by using ED and CBI.”
Celebrations at AAP HQ
Celebrations began outside the AAP headquarters minutes after the Supreme Court granted bail to Kejriwal in the corruption case linked to the excise policy ‘scam’.
The AAP leaders and workers distributed sweets and burst crackers outside the party headquarters here. Sweets were also distributed outside the residence of AAP leader Manish Sisodia.
The AAP leaders and workers gathered outside of the party office, and broke into celebrations soon after the apex court granted bail to Kejriwal.
The AAP chief was arrested by the CBI on June 26.