 "'Aandhi aayi thi': Kejriwal's analogy between his release, Delhi storm")
In a light-hearted comment, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convener Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday sought to draw an analogy between his release from Tihar jail here and a heavy dust storm that hit the national capital.
Kejriwal was holding his first press conference after he walked out of the prison on Friday evening to kick start his campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The Supreme Court granted Kejriwal interim bail in the alleged Delhi liquor policy ‘scam’ till June 1.
The AAP chief recounted the moments following his release when some of AAP supporters pointed to the heavy dust storm that struck Delhi on Friday night, drawing parallels between the two events.
With a smile, Kejriwal echoed back, "Raat ko aandhi aayi thi (A storm had arrived at night)," eliciting a resounding applause from his supporters.
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The remark was a reference to the heavy dust storm, which struck Delhi on Friday evening. The powerful storm, accompanied by rain, left two persons dead and injured 23 others in Delhi. It also resulted in the uprooting of trees and electric poles in various parts of the city.
Modi wants to crush AAP: Kejriwal
In the press conference, Kejriwal vowed to continue his fight against “dictatorship” in the country. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to crush AAP by putting its top leaders in jail.
“They (BJP) incarcerated the top four AAP leaders in hopes of disintegrating the party. But AAP is more than just a political entity; it's an idea. The more they attempt to quash it, the more it will thrive. The PM wants to suppress the Aam Aadmi Party," the Delhi CM alleged.
Kejriwal on not resigning amid arrest
Kejriwal also explained the reason behind not resigning from the CM’s post even after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21.
“The CM’s post is not important for me. However, in the last 75 years, never in India's history has any state recorded a victory of such grandeur that Delhi did when AAP came to power. They know that they cannot defeat the AAP in Delhi in the coming 20 years, hence, they orchestrated a political conspiracy. They jailed me in a false case, aiming to force my resignation and topple the AAP government in Delhi.”
He further said that not handing in his resignation was his answer to them. “We won’t be lured into your trap, we will run the government from the jail itself,” Kejriwal said.
The AAP chief also alleged that Modi’s tall claims of fighting corruption are lies.
“The country's biggest thieves, criminals, and scammers are in the BJP today, yet Modi claims he's fighting corruption. If he truly wants to combat corruption, he should take a lesson from Kejriwal,” he said.
The Delhi CM concluded his speech by urging the public to help him end the “dictatorship” in India. “I cannot fight alone, I am begging 1.4 billion Indians to save India from this dictatorship,” he said, urging the people to extend their support to the Opposition INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha polls.