The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has hailed the Supreme Court’s decision to grant bail to its National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, as a triumph of truth over dictatorship. In a fierce rebuke to the BJP-led central government, AAP condemned the misuse of central agencies.
Senior leader Saurabh Bharadwaj called the verdict a victory for justice, highlighting the Supreme Court’s criticism of the CBI as a “caged parrot” acting under political influence. With the Court questioning the timing of Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, AAP leader and Minister Atishi escalated demands for the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Senior AAP leader and Cabinet Minister in Delhi Government Saurabh Bharadwaj stated that all but one who were under trial in the so called excise case, have been granted bail. Today, the remarks made by the Supreme Court while granting bail to Arvind Kejriwal, are exactly in line with what the AAP members have been saying for two years. This is significant to note. The Supreme Court has stated that Arvind Kejriwal was questioned by the CBI 22 months ago and they arrested him after almost two years.
The Senior AAP leader stated, “Because he was granted bail by the trial court and the CBI realised that Arvind Kejriwal might get released, that’s why the CBI plotted an arrest to keep him in jail.”
“The Apex Court said that the country’s premier investigating agency, the CBI, is a ‘caged parrot’ of the BJP-led government. The Supreme Court also said that a premier investigation agency must not be biased, and they shouldn’t be motivated by revenge or taking orders from the directors. CBI should not become that parrot,” added Saurabh Bharadwaj.
Saurabh Bharadwaj shared that the Court is not saying this about the CBI, but the BJP-led central government. The Supreme Court has stated that ‘they arrested a Chief Minister with plots and malice,’ and the Court asked many questions about his arrest and timing. The CBI is merely the caged parrot. The Court remarked, ‘the CBI should be an uncaged parrot, and a perception that it is independent must form.’
“The country today doesn’t believe that the CBI is independent, and the Supreme Court is saying that. What could be more shameful for the central government?” he asserted.
Calling for accountability from the Home Minister, Saurabh Bharadwaj affirmed, “I feel the Union Home Minister under whom the CBI comes, must resign. This puts a big question mark on him. The accusations that CBI is being misused, which the Home Minister and even the PM himself used to make on the Congress when he was Gujarat’s CM, today they’re doing the same thing. They are exploiting it even more. The Supreme Court saying all this puts a stamp on what the AAP has been saying.”
Meanwhile, Senior AAP leader and Cabinet Minister Atishi said that in the last 2 years the BJP-led central government and their political weapons, ED and CBI, have left no stone unturned to trouble the AAP. House of every AAP leader was raided in an alleged and fake liquor case. “Offices, lockers and ancestral villages were raided and neither the ED nor CBI could recover a single rupee of corruption, after this many raids, after checking thousands of documents. Why? Because the AAP is a staunchly honest party,” she asserted.
She further added that AAP leaders were still jailed despite not even recovering a single penny from them. Manish Sisodia was in jail for 17 months, Sanjay Singh for 6 months, AAP’s communication incharge Vijay Nair for 2 years, and Arvind Kejriwal for 6 months from March to September.
“The AAP has said time and time again that ED and CBI are merely political weapons of the dictatorial BJP government. But only AAP was saying this till yesterday. Today, even the Supreme Court said the CBI arrested Arvind Kejriwal only because he had got a bail from the ED. The Court stamped on what the AAP has been saying that the CBI did not arrest Arvind Kejriwal because they had any evidence or they had found corruption, but because they wanted to keep him in jail for longer,” added the senior AAP leader.
Atishi said that today, the BJP leaders and especially Home Minister Amit Shah should be ashamed after the Supreme Court’s remarks. Today, the Apex Court stamped that CBI is merely a political weapon. The Supreme court had to say that it should not be caged. It had to say that CBI must become independent, unbiased, neutral and ‘above board’. The whole nation is witnessing today, and the Supreme Court is watching, that the CBI and the ED have become mere political weapons.
“We demand that the Union Home Minister Amit Shah should resign after the Apex Court’s remarks and it has become evident to the whole world today that agencies were misused to target the AAP. I congratulate all AAP members for their continuous, unbent and unbroken struggle together for two years against the dictator, despite the problems and pressure,” she affirmed
“The AAP, CM Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and all party workers have shown that we are not afraid of this dictatorship. We’ll continue our struggle looking the dictators in the eye and they’ll have to bend, like they have today. The Constitution has triumphed in the end, and it will continue to do so,” concluded Atishi.