Referring to the recent court verdict in the alleged Delhi excise policy “scam”, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said his party has passed an “agnipariksha (trial by fire)”, adding that the court found no evidence in the allegations levelled against him and other leaders of his party.
Speaking at a public meeting in Panaji, the former Delhi chief minister launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the PM of sending a “message to all politicians” by putting him in jail.
“By putting me in jail, Modi ji has sent a message to all politicians that if you do too much work and talk about politics of honesty, I will put you in jail. AAP is the only party that talks of honesty in politics. I want to tell Modi ji… you tried everything to stop Kejriwal. You sent the CBI, ED, Income Tax, Delhi Police… put me and my companions in jail… I want to tell Modi ji that if Kejriwal is to be finished… there is only one way. Kejriwal will have to be murdered. Otherwise, he will not bow down,” Kejriwal said.
Earlier last month, a Delhi court discharged AAP leaders Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and others in the CBI’s corruption case linked to the alleged excise policy scam.
Kejriwal said the BJP brought Delhi to a standstill by putting AAP leaders in jail. “In a way, AAP did not lose the election in Delhi; they (the BJP) stole the election. I challenge Modi ji to hold an election in Delhi today. I can guarantee that the BJP will not win more than 10 seats and AAP will win more than 60 seats.”
“In a way, AAP… the party leadership, me… hum agnipariksha se nikal ke aye hein (we all have successfully come out of a trial by fire). In the last four-five years, attempts were made to defame AAP and the way the party has been continuously attacked, we too have undergone a trial by fire. Several allegations were levelled against us — ‘Kejriwal has committed a liquor scam. Kejriwal pocketed Rs 100 crore,’” Kejriwal said.
He said an attempt was made to create doubt among the public. “The way we were defamed and put in jail. Five senior-most leaders of a political party — me, Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, Vijay Nair, Sanjay Singh — …were put in jail. Manish and Satyendra were told to leave Kejriwal and join the BJP. Not a single leader of our party gave in. Why? If we had done something wrong, we would have to join the BJP because we knew they could permanently keep us in jail. But we knew we were falsely implicated, and the case is false. We knew the matter would not stand in the court,” Kejriwal said.
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He said that in the 600-page order, the judge said the case did not have an iota of evidence. “The hearings went on for five months. Koi saboot nhi hai, koi gawah nhi hai (There was no evidence, no witnesses). CBI, ED had gone to the court seeking a trial. The judge said there is no evidence to even begin a trial,” he said.
He also said that “false rumours” were spread that money from liquor scam was taken to Goa. “In the order, the judge has said not a single penny was dishonestly used in the Goa elections by AAP. In the order… this happens in the rarest of rare cases, the judge has written that the CBI officer who investigated this fraud case, disciplinary action should be taken against that officer,” he said.
Kejriwal said Modi and Amit Shah “can do anything for power, they can go to any extent”.
“They wanted Delhi. They were not able to win in Delhi. Modi stays in Delhi, Shah stays in Delhi… and Delhi’s chief minister was from another party. They could not tolerate this. They wanted to capture Delhi. In 2014, Modi became the Prime Minister with a massive mandate. They got a lot of seats. Subsequently, wherever they fought election… Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand — he kept winning… In February 2015, in the Delhi election, out of 70, the BJP got three seats, and AAP got 67 seats. Modi ji could not tolerate this,” Kejriwal said.
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He added that during the 2020 election in Delhi, the BJP tried to polarise the Shaheen Bagh issue and kept “doing Hindu-Muslim”, “while we fought the election on the issues of school, power, water, hospital, road… on the basis of our work. We got 62 seats, BJP got only eight seats. Then they decided we will have to do something else. So, they came up with this conspiracy to arrest us. But, in the end, the truth has won.”
He further said, “By putting us in jail, Modi ji tried to break the hope of this country. We are all ‘aam’ people, we do not come from political families. When ‘aam’ people formed the government in Delhi for the first time, the youth and the educated class started believing that they could also go into politics. Otherwise, we see that children, spouses, relatives of BJP politicians only get tickets. Modi ji has sent a message to the country’s youth… to not dare to enter politics, otherwise I will put you in jail too… like Kejriwal. He has killed the hope and aspirations of millions of youths in the country.”
