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Vote for ‘jhaadu’ to ensure I don’t return to jail, Kejriwal tells voters of East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency
In a series of six public meetings on the day, Kejriwal accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of sending him, former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and former AAP minister Satyendar Jain to jail. He said the arrest of his personal assistant (PA) Bibhav Kumar two days ago will be followed by the arrests of party leaders Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj
Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Monday appealed to the electorate of the East Delhi constituency to vote for AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar “Monu” to ensure the victory of the INDIA bloc at the Centre and “ensure that I don’t return to jail”.
“They (BJP) are saying that I will have to go back to jail on June 2. It’s you (the public) who will decide whether I will go to jail or not. If you will press the lotus (BJP symbol) button, I will have to go to jail again, if you will press “jhaadu (broom)”, the AAP’s symbol, I will be moving around freely,” Kejriwal said.
In a series of six public meetings on the day, Kejriwal accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of sending him, former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and former AAP minister Satyendar Jain to jail. He said the arrest of his personal assistant (PA) Bibhav Kumar two days ago will be followed by the arrests of party leaders Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj.
“Humne pradhan mantri chuna tha, thanedaar thode na chuna tha (We elected a Prime Minister and not a police station in-charge). The Prime Minister should do the work for which he was elected. He should provide employment to youth, reduce inflation and cut fuel prices. It’s not right to send people to jail in false cases,” Kejriwal said at a public address in Jangpura.
Accompanied by his wife, Sunita Kejriwal, and Kuldeep Kumar, Kejriwal addressed a gathering at Sartaj Mohalla near the Kanti Nagar police booth in Gandhi Nagar from atop his car around 5.30pm. Kejriwal greeted the gathering, who were hurling flags of AAP and Congress, raising slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Inquilab Zindabad”, which elicited a sound response, following which he said “kya scene hai, boss (what a scene)...I love you.”
Kejriwal credited his release from jail to prayers and fasts of Delhi “mothers and sisters”, promising to fulfil his promise of giving a ₹1,000 monthly allowance to each woman if the INDIA bloc wins the Lok Sabha polls.
In his 15-minute speech, Kejriwal called Prime Minister Narendra Modi “a powerful person with resources” and said that Modi was sending him to jail to ensure the welfare projects of Delhi are discontinued. “By sending me to jail, he (Modi) wants to shut schools, mohalla clinics and discontinue other welfare measures taken by us. Is opening schools and mohalla clinics my fault? If I have made 500 schools, he should make 50,000 schools across the country. If I have opened 500 mohalla clinics to give good health care to the public, he should open 500,000 such clinics in the country,” Kejriwal said.
From Gandhi Nagar, the entourage accompanied Kejriwal to Bholanath Nagar in Shahdara, where Kejriwal continued to attack the BJP for seeking to win 400 Lok Sabha seats to end reservations. “The BJP wants 400 (Lok Sabha) seats because they want to change the Constitution of India and end reservations for scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (ST) and other backward classes (OBCs). But we will not let them do it. We will have to save the Constitution,” he said.
He also expressed happiness over the alliance between the AAP and the Congress for the Lok Sabha polls. “This is a very good thing for the country. We will win all the seven seats in Delhi,” he said.
At Kondli, Kejriwal said medicines prescribed for him were stopped in (Tihar) jail for 15 days and he was not given insulin injections even when his blood sugar level crossed 350. “I arranged free medicines for 25 million people of Delhi but these people stopped my medicines and insulin in jail. I don’t know what they wanted to do to me by stopping my medicines,” Kejriwal said.
At his other public meetings at Patparganj and Trilokpuri, Kejriwal said that he and his party leaders were accused of fraud of over ₹100 crore over the excise policy, but probe agencies failed to find any money despite multiple raids. “I will quit politics if they say they have found even 25 paise. If we had committed the scam, why has no cash, property or jewellery been recovered? We are being framed in false cases because Modi fears the AAP,” Kejriwal said.
Calling his wife Sunita Kejriwal “his messenger and a bridge between him and the people of Delhi”, Kejriwal said he used to ask her about the well-being of Delhiites and updates on welfare schemes. He then handed over the microphone to his wife.
“With the blessings of all of you, my husband and your beloved chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is among us today. If you want him not go to jail even after June 2, then all of you have to press the broom button,” she said.
