'Arvind Kejriwal Will Remain CM; Won't Fall for BJP's Designs': With AAP-hill Battle ahead, Mood Sombre among Party Leaders, Workers

The morning after Aam Aadmi Party national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested and remained in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate, AAP had expected massive protests in front of the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters in the capital. Kejriwal is AAP’s fifth top leader to be arrested and the party recognises that this could be a long fight — legally and politically. However, for a seasoned protester like AAP, the response in Delhi was relatively low-key.

Party MP Sandeep Pathak explained that the protest was fine, while the ruling BJP and the central government deployed police forces, detained AAP’s leaders on Thursday night itself, and put most of them under house arrest. “Our protest was not an aggressive violent protest, it was a peaceful protest. We called people to come over here and wanted to speak to them. They could not digest even a peaceful protest. They barricaded every road that could lead to this place. The Metro station was shut down, buses were stopped. You have a brute police force. You can always stop people from coming here,” he said.

AAP ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj, MLA Sahiram Pahalwan, Punjab ministers Dr Balbir Singh and Harjot Bains, and other party workers were detained at the ITO crossroads where the police had erected barricades and they were taken to the Alipur police station. While being detained, Bhardwaj said to waiting reporters, “We will state before the Supreme Court that Arvind Kejriwal should be allowed to meet his lawyer and family and also allowed to carry out his official work. Kejriwal’s family has been put under house arrest.” However, it was at ITO that AAP put up its most spirited protest.

AAP activists also protested in various parts of the country, such as Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Maharashtra, etc.

In the morning, AAP had stated that no one was being allowed to meet the chief minister’s family. Bhardwaj posted on social media site X: “They punished the CM on a false case. What enmity does the central government have towards his old parents and children? No one is allowed to meet his family. No one can express solidarity and they would be more troubled.”. However, later party colleagues were allowed to meet the CM’s family.

By around 11 am, the police had already removed a small group of protesters who were carrying placards of “Mein Bhi Kejriwal” in front of the AAP office and detained them. Soon, the roads outside the office wore a deserted look, bereft of protesters or workers. A bunch of yellow-blue placards, the trademark soundboxes, and mikes that were put up at the AAP office’s gate lay around unused. The usually buzzing office, with back-to-back press conferences and an unending supply of tea, was uncharacteristically quiet, as many of the leaders were detained, multiple barricades were put up, section 144 was imposed, and the ITO metro station was shut from 8 am till 8 pm.

“This was a symbolic protest. The real protest will be when people will go to vote. The real protest will be when the house of every Delhiite, whom Kejriwal has supported, will show support through vote and that is what matters,” said Pathak, adding that the police stopped most people en route. “But that’s not important. It is important that people will show their protest through voting.”

AAP’s Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had resigned 48 hours after his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation as the Supreme Court denied him bail, along with Satyendar Jain who was arrested ten months back. Jain had not resigned immediately upon arrest. However, when the Supreme Court denied bail to Sisodia, he resigned along with Jain.

Asked whether there is such a possibility when it comes to Kejriwal, the AAP’s national organisation secretary said,” Arvind Kejriwal ji is going to continue to be chief minister of Delhi. The entire conspiracy that the BJP has hatched is this — they wanted to arrest Arvind Kejriwal so that someone else became the chief minister of Delhi and they could break the government and steal the government. We are not novices in politics. We would not get trapped in their design. The people of Delhi wanted Kejriwal to be the CM and continue as CM. We will run the government from jail. What is the problem?”

Probed further on whether that would not lead to a constitutional crisis as an imprisoned person would not be allowed to organise meetings, sign files, etc, the AAP’s election strategist replied that it was the court’s responsibility to ensure that the government could run. “The entire case is political, when MCC is in place and elections are around the corner, you are arresting your opposition leaders and you are expecting him to resign and put in someone else. It is a clear-cut design, conspiracy, and I would say that we will not get trapped in their design. We will fight it out,” he said. “It is Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP. We have always surprised them. They must be happy that they have arrested Arvind Kejriwal, but I will say this with full responsibility and confidence that we will emerge stronger and we will surprise them with a greater share of votes than anybody would have expected.”

There is no constitutional crisis, Pathak emphasised. “The day that Arvind Kejriwal became the CM of Delhi, the BJP arrested the entire government. You could not see that arrest. They tried to hamper all government work, stop everything. In a way, they tried to arrest the government and it has been imprisoned for so many years. Still, Arvind Kejriwal managed to govern Delhi better than any other state. This is what the BJP would try to create and project but we will not fall into their trap. We will not resign. Arvind Kejriwal is the CM, he will remain the CM,” he said.

While the detained Punjab ministers were let off by the police after some time, AAP ministers Atishi and Bhardwaj, along with other party workers, continued to be held.

AAP’s Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann reached Kejriwal’s residence at around 1.30 pm and met the family. Around 1.50 pm, the ED, in a cavalcade of cars, took Arvind Kejriwal to the Rouse Avenue Court, crossing the party’s headquarters at 203 Rouse Avenue on the way. The chief minister looked grave and remained silent, perhaps because the court had earlier barred Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh from giving “political speeches” to the media. However, when a reporter asked him whether he had any message, the CM replied, “Mera jeevan desh ko samarpit hai, chahe woh andar ho ya bahar ho (My life is dedicated to the nation, whether I’m behind bars or free).”

The hearing itself began around twenty minutes later, at about 2.20 pm. The court afterwards remanded the Delhi CM in ED custody till March 28. While the hearing was on, Mann said, “If Kejriwal had to earn money, he could have done so as he was an income tax commissioner and his wife was an IRS officer.” He added that Kejriwal was the “prime accused of destroying the BJP”.

After Kejriwal was produced in the court, people from AAP were allowed to meet him. Apart from Punjab chief minister Mann, the Speakers of the Delhi and Punjab assemblies also met Kejriwal’s family.

While the AAP and Kejriwal came in for sharp attacks from the BJP, which demanded the chief minister’s resignation, there was a thin silver lining in the dark clouds. And that was the solidarity by opposition leaders from the INDIA bloc, including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Shashi Tharoor, Sitaram Yechury, MK Stalin, Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, and others. Leaders from the alliance appeared united like never before. Kejriwal’s arrest had stirred these leaders to come together on one issue.

INDIA front parties went to the Election Commission to protest against Kejriwal’s arrest on the eve of Lok Sabha polls. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee posted on X: “Today, our INDIA alliance will meet the EC to express our strong objection to the deliberate targeting and arrests of opposition leaders, particularly during the MCC period. To this end, I have designated @derekobrienmp and @MdNadimulHaque6 to represent @AITCofficial in this crucial meeting with the Election Commission.”

She also said, “I vehemently condemn the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, the sitting elected Chief Minister of Delhi elected by the people. I have personally reached out to Smt Sunita Kejriwal to extend my unwavering support and solidarity. It’s outrageous that elected opposition CMs are being deliberately targeted and arrested while individuals accused under CBI/ED investigations are allowed to continue their malpractices with impunity, especially after aligning with the BJP. This is a blatant assault on democracy.”

Both Mamata Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi had spoken to the arrested CM’s wife and former IRS officer Sunita Kejriwal.

AAP’s founding members Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, who had later broken away from the party, rose over their personal equations and came out in support of their estranged colleague.

AAP MLAs and councillors walked to gather at the Delhi CM’s Civil Lines residence in the evening to meet the chief minister’s family and express solidarity.