‘Sacrifice for nation’: Arvind Kejriwal back in Tihar after 21 days

Anshita Mehra

New Delhi, June 2

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday surrendered at the Tihar jail after the interim bail granted to him by the Supreme Court in the excise policy-linked money laundering case ended on June 1. The top court had granted him relief for campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections.

Before surrendering, Kejriwal paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at the Raj Ghat, offered prayers at a temple and addressed AAP workers at the party office. In his address, he denounced what he termed as the incumbent Narendra Modi government’s “authoritarian” rule, likening his stance to that of revolutionary Bhagat Singh, expressing readiness to “sacrifice for the country”. “I am going back to jail not because I was involved in corruption, but because I raised voice against dictatorship,” he said.

Reflecting on his campaign during the bail period, Kejriwal expressed gratitude to the Supreme Court for granting him bail. “These 21 days were unforgettable. I did not waste even a minute. I campaigned for saving the country. AAP is not important, it is secondary. The country comes first,” he said.

Kejriwal also asserted that all exit polls predicting a third term for the BJP-led NDA were “fake”. “They are not forming government on June 4. These exit polls are mind games to drive you into depression,” he told AAP workers. “Yesterday, the exit polls were aired. Take it from me in writing that all exit polls are completely fake. There are a total of 25 seats in Rajasthan, an exit poll gave 33 out of 25 seats to the BJP! There must have been an order from above to give more seats to the BJP,” he claimed. “What was the need for them to conduct a fake exit poll just three days before the actual counting?” he asked.

“If they have committed an EVM scam, we can expose it. So, everyone has to wait till the end, even if your candidate is losing, you still have to wait till the end and get the EVM slips matched with the VVPAT slips,” he said.

Kejriwal later surrendered amid tight security arrangements in areas surrounding the Tihar jail. A court sent him to judicial custody till June 5. Duty judge Sanjeev Aggarwal passed the order after the CM was produced before the court through video conference after surrendering at Tihar jail.

Earlier, during his visit to the Raj Ghat, Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal, Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Singh and Sandeep Pathak, and party leaders Atishi, Kailash Gahlot, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Durgesh Pathak, Rakhi Birla, Reena Gupta and others accompanied the Delhi CM.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in connection with a money laundering probe relating to alleged irregularities in the now-cancelled Delhi excise policy 2021-22. On May 10, the Supreme Court granted Kejriwal interim bail till June 1 in the money laundering case registered by the ED in connection with the Delhi excise policy. However, it ordered that Kejriwal not visit the Office of the Chief Minister or the Delhi Secretariat. (With PTI inputs)