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Jailed former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain taken to Safdarjung hospital
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal invoked Bhagat Singh and said people of Delhi can see the ego and injustice of the BJP government
Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) functionary and former Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain, who has been jailed since May last year under a money laundering case, was rushed to the Safdarjung hospital in the city on Monday morning due to his deteriorating health condition.
A senior Tihar Jail official said that Jain is suffering from spinal issues and was sent to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in west Delhi last week. “At DDU Hospital, he requested for a second opinion on his problem, upon which the doctor referred him to the Safdarjung Hospital,” said the official. The official said that the falling health of Jain could be because of his “food habits and stress levels”. “We are consulting the doctors treating him to understand why he is shedding weight,” he said.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that he would pray for better health of his former Cabinet colleague. “People of Delhi can see the ego and injustice of the BJP government. People and God are with us in this struggle. This battle against cruelty, injustice and dictatorship will continue. We are the followers of Bhagat Singh,” Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi with a picture that displays Jain in emaciated state in the hospital. Senior AAP functionaries and ministers also took to twitter to express solidarity with Jain.
Health minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said that the person who is single handedly responsible for improving the healthcare system of Delhi has bee treated like this. “God will never forgive them for this misdemeanor,” he tweeted.
Education minister Atishi said that she has never seen Satyendar Jain in such a weak state. “What level of cruelty do these people want to reach? Jain, who created the mohalla clinic mode, is suffering from health issues but BJP is playing dirty politics,” she tweeted.
Last week, Jain had filed a bail plea in the apex court citing his deteriorating health conditions in which he said he has “lost 35 kilogram weight”. The Supreme Court bench led by justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli issued notice on the bail plea while granting liberty to move to the vacation bench for urgent listing of the plea.
A week ago, HT reported that the Tihar administration was going to order a psychological evaluation for Jain after he asked the prison authorities to shift some other inmates to his cell, citing loneliness. The director general (prisons) Sanjay Baniwal said since the former minister had cited a recommendation by a psychiatrist in support of his application sent on May 11, the jail authorities would get an independent verification done to assess the request. However, the official quoted above said that the psychological analysis was yet to be conducted.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana said that the Delhi CM should also inform the people of Delhi that Jain is lodged in jail under money laundering case and the courts have not been granting him bail for almost a year now. “We pray that Satyendar Jain’s health recovers but this should not be used to portray AAP as victim. The comparison to Bhagat Singh and attempts to portray themselves as martyrs show that they don’t have confidence in judiciary,” he tweeted.
