The political situation of Delhi has taken a dramatic turn with the illegal arrest of almost 80% of Aam Aadmi Party’s organisational leadership by the Delhi Police. Several senior party leaders including dozens of MLAs and councillors are under arrest in wake of Delhi Dy CM Shri Manish Sisodia’s arrest. Cabinet Minister Shri Gopal Rai, who is also the Convenor of AAP’s Delhi unit, and AAP senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Shri Sanjay Singh, are among those who have been arrested. Shri Adil Ahmad Khan, who looks after organisational work, has also been arrested, along with AAP’s Lok Sabha convenors and district in-charges and other organisational members are also under arrest.
This move of the BJP government has been heavily criticised, with AAP Chief Spokesperson Shri and MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj likening it to the Emergency period in India. Hitting out strongly at the BJP, he said that every person who is important in the organisation has been put behind bars since yesterday, which he called a dangerous sign of an emergency.
The Central Govt says that only Shri Manish Sisodia has been arrested, but Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj asserted, “Detention is only for a couple of hours. It is about to be one day since the “detention” of our leaders. The police cannot legally detain even a common man for this long, leave aside political leaders? Detaining anyone for this long is illegal. By now they should have been presented in the court and it should have been revealed under which sections and for what reason have our MP MLAs been arrested.”
Highlighted how he did not find anything in any newspaper today against Shri Manish Sisodia. He continued, “It is the same tired tale the CBI has been repeating ad nauseam since May 2022. I want to ask: why was the arrest required then? Was Shri Manish Sisodia preparing to leave the country? Did he meddle with any witnesses or evidence? He has been enduring the torment for ten months now. Was any new evidence discovered against him? The CBI has all the documents and files already. Some have argued that the policy itself was corrupt. We are all aware that the policy was approved and notified by the former Lieutenant Government Shri Anil Baijal, who was appointed by the central government. Why then has the CBI not investigated the former LG in the last ten months?”
Calling the allegations against a “pack of lies,” Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj reiterated that there is no evidence against Dy CM Shri Manish Sisodia and urged the media to show the people how the central government is torturing the Aam Aadmi Party. Aam Aadmi Party and other admirers of Shri Manish Sisodia will convene for a peaceful demonstration outside the BJP Headquarters today, he informed.
