In a major relief to the AAP national convenor, the Supreme Court on Friday granted him interim bail for 21 days to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha election
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal walked out of Tihar Jail on Friday, hours after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail till June 1. Kejriwal left the jail premises accompanied by his wife Sunita Kejriwal, his daughter Harshita and senior AAP leaders including Bhagwant Mann, Atishi, Saurabh Bhardwaj and Sandeep Pathak.
Standing through the sunroof of a car, Kejriwal then addressed AAP workers and supporters amid slogans of ‘Jail Ke Tale Toot Gaye, Kejriwalji Chhoot Gaye’.
Beginning with slogans of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Inquilab Zindabad’, the Delhi CM thanked the people for their blessing and expressed gratitude to the judges of the Supreme Court for granting him bail.
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“It feels good to be amongst you all. I had promised to come back soon and here I am…I have a request, we have to save the country from dictatorship. I am fighting against it with all might, but 140 crore people (of the country) will have to come together to fight against it,” he said.
The Delhi CM said he will visit the Hanuman Temple at Connaught Place at 11:00 am on Saturday to pay obeisance to the deity, following which he will address a press conference at the party office at 1:00 pm.
KEJRIWAL RECEIVES TRADITIONAL WELCOME AT HOME
Later in the evening, after the Delhi CM reached home, he was received with garlands by his parents. His mother welcomes him into the house by performing traditional ‘aarti’.
Kejriwal then sought his parents’ blessing by touching their feet.
The chief minister reached his residence in the Civil Lines area around 8.20 pm from the prison complex.
CELEBRATIONS AT THE AAP OFFICE
Clad in yellow T-shirts, AAP supporters danced to dhol beats and fed each other sweets at the party office in New Delhi on Friday as they celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision to grant interim bail to Kejriwal in a money laundering case.
Slogans like “Jail ke taale toot gaye, Kejriwal ji chhoot gaye”, “Modi ji ja rahe hain, Kejriwal ji aa rahe hain,” and “Dekho dekho kon aaya, sher aaya sher aaya” rent the air at the AAP office.
Many supporters carried posters with slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi written on them.
Describing the interim bail as a blessing of Lord Hanuman to his devotee Kejriwal, AAP leaders said his release from judicial custody will pave the way for “big changes” in the country.
At a joint press conference at the party office, senior AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “Kejriwal being granted interim bail after 40 days is no less than a miracle. There is also a divine hint that the prevailing conditions are going to change in the country. His release will pave the way for big changes in the country.”
In posts on X, several other AAP leaders including Gopal Rai, Sanjay Singh, Atishi as well as the chief minister’s wife Sunita Kejriwal, welcomed the development.
“We are all ready to face every challenge. We will end dictatorship,” Singh wrote in his post and shared a picture with Delhi CM.
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Kejriwal’s release from jail, however transient, is expected to give a boost to the AAP’s Lok Sabha campaign in Delhi where polling is scheduled for May 25, with its foremost leader hitting the hustings.
KEJRIWAL’S FIRST ROADSHOW TOMORROW
Kejriwal will participate in a roadshow in South Delhi on May 11 along with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann. This will be Kejriwal’s first roadshow after walking out of Tihar Jail on Friday.
AAP has fielded Sahi Ram Pahalwan from the South Delhi parliamentary constituency. Under a seat-sharing arrangement between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the former has fielded candidates from three Lok Sabha seats in Delhi while the latter is contesting from the remaining four.
INDIA BLOC LEADERS WELCOME KEJRIWAL’S INTERIM BAIL
Opposition leaders also welcomed the interim bail given to the AAP leader by the Supreme Court, saying the “fight to save democracy” will now be with more intensity.
Congress leader Pawan Khera hoped former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren also get due justice.
“We welcome the intervention by the Supreme Court in granting bail to Arvind Kejriwal…We also hope that the prime minister gets enough time after June 4, when he becomes the former prime minister of India, to introspect sitting in Sabarmati Ashram the kind of politics he has indulged in,” he said.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee also welcomed the Supreme Court order, saying “I am very happy to see that Shri Arvind Kejriwal has got interim bail. It will be very helpful in the context of the current elections.” Sharad Pawar, who heads the NCP (SP), said the country remains steadfast in the pursuit of democracy.
“I welcome the interim bail order granted to the chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal by the SC. India remains steadfast in the pursuit of democracy,” Pawar wrote on X.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi called it a “big win” for Kejriwal.
“And big win for Arvind Kejriwal ji as SC steps in to grant him interim bail. The bid to silence the opposition by BJP is backfiring on them. We Won’t be silenced, won’t bend, won’t give in come what may. Bharat is watching, India is winning! Jai Hind!” she wrote on X.
Another Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray said justice and relief to Kejriwal against the “dictatorial regime” in the country was a huge sign of winds of change.
BJP’S REACTION
Getting interim bail does not mean Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was declared innocent in the alleged multi-crore liquor scam, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said.
Sachdeva said that while the BJP respects the top court’s decision, AAP leader are once again misleading the people of Delhi and betraying them.
“Sometimes even criminals are released on parole, and this is a legal process, so it does not prove that Kejriwal, who was the main culprit in the multi-crore liquor scam, is innocent today,” he said.
“AAP has no local issues for the elections because as a state government, they have done nothing in the last 10 years, so they created a stir in the name of Kejriwal being jailed and are now trying to create a deceptive atmosphere of coming out of jail, which the people of Delhi will not buy. BJP candidates will win all seven seats in the upcoming elections,” he added.
BJP’s candidate from the South Delhi constituency and Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said, Kejriwal got bail for election campaigning and would have to return to jail after that.
“He is an accused in the multi-crore liquor scam and therefore will have to return behind bars on June 2,” Bidhuri stated.
SC’S CONDITIONAL BAIL TO KEJRIWAL
In a major relief to the AAP national convenor, the Supreme Court on Friday granted him interim bail for 21 days to campaign for the ongoing Lok Sabha election.
A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta said Kejriwal, arrested in the money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2.
June 1 is the last day of the seven-phase Lok Sabha election. Votes will be counted on June 4.
Granting interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would not amount to granting of privilege or special status to politicians, the apex court said while observing that the AAP leader has no criminal antecedents and is not a threat to society.
Setting him free for 21 days to campaign for the remaining phases of the Lok Sabha elections after 50 days of custody, the court rejected the submission of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that granting the relief for Lok Sabha campaigning would create a separate class of politicians.
The top court, however, barred the AAP leader from visiting his office or the Delhi secretariat and signing official files unless absolutely necessary for obtaining the lieutenant governor’s approval.
While imposing a string of bail conditions on Kejriwal, the apex court directed him to furnish bail bonds of Rs 50,000 with one surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the jail superintendent.
