NEW DELHI: The Left parties on Friday lauded the Supreme Court order granting interim bail to Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kerjiwal, who was in jail in connection with a money-laundering case related to the alleged irregularities in Delhi’s excise policy, which has already been withdrawn. Their leaders said that with the AAP chief out on bail, the electorate will ‘punish’ the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and party led Government at the Centre.
The chief minister of Kerala and Polit Bureau member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPIM) Pinarayi Vijayan termed the apex court verdict ‘significant precedent in the history of our democracy’. He said that decision might impact the ongoing general elections, leading to a resounding victory of the democratic forces.
“It is a strong reminder that no authoritarian regime can prevail long by suppressing dissent. Sangh Parivar has sabotaged the basic democratic principles by detaining an elected CM, and the verdict is a blow to the vicious attempts by this regime to make electoral gains by blatant breach of power, fanning communal hatred and unleashing investigative agencies to hunt down the oppositional voices,” he posted on the micro-blogging site ‘X’.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja said that his party welcomes the relief granted to Kejriwal despite the fact the Enforcement Directorate (ED) fervently opposed his bail.
“CPI welcomes the interim bail granted to AAP Convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal by the Supreme Court, despite ED’s vehement opposition to it. Importantly, SC’s observation that it took ED two years to initiate action against Arvind Kejriwal suggests that the timing of his arrest, right before elections, was not above suspicion and could be politically motivated,” also wrote on ‘X’.
He further expressed hope that former chief minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren and other leaders, who are in jail in different cases, would also get similar relief from the court.
“We also express our hope that jailed Ex-CM Hemant Soren and other leaders who were targeted for their opposition to the BJP will also get relief. People of the country are fed-up with the vendetta politics of the BJP and will show them the door on 4th June,” Raja wrote.
Soren was also arrested by the ED in a case pertaining to illegally sold land in Ranchi.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta granted bail to Kejriwal till 1 June to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
“Glad that the Supreme Court has finally granted interim bail to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal till June 1. The people of Delhi will punish the Modi regime in the elections for its fascist assault on the Constitution, the rights of the Delhi government and on the entire opposition,” general secretary of CPI-Marxist-Leninist (Liberation) Dipankar Bhattacharya also posted on X.