PM Modi said he was optimistic that Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal’s arrest would not become a precedent in Indian democracy.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest in Delhi excise policy case and said unlike Kejriwal, other politicians would not be lacking in morals. In an exclusive interview with Times of India, PM Modi said he was optimistic that Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal’s arrest would not become a precedent in Indian democracy.
Slamming the Aam Aadmi Party supremo, PM Modi said that he was sure that, unlike Kejriwal, other politicians would not be lacking in morals.
“I am optimistic that this (sitting CM being in jail) will not become a precedent. I feel other politicians won’t be lacking in morals and will not go to this extent”.
Notably, Kejriwal became the first sitting chief minister to be arrested by a law enforcement agency and the ED arrested him in the Delhi excise policy case on March 21. Later, he was moved to Tihar Jail.
The statement from PM Modi comes at a time when the Supreme Court will hear on Monday a plea by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging his arrest in the money laundering case in the alleged excise policy scam. In the meantime, Kejriwal’s wife, Sunita, who was supposed to meet the Delhi CM in Tihar jail has also been denied the permission for visit.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta is likely to hear the matter. Kejriwal had earlier told the apex court that his “illegal arrest” in the case constitutes an unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy based on “free and fair elections” and “federalism”.
In a rejoinder to the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) reply affidavit filed on his petition challenging his arrest in the case, Kejriwal said the mode, manner and timing of his arrest just before the Lok Sabha elections when the Model Code of Conduct had come into play, speaks volumes about the “arbitrariness” of the agency.
Kejriwal claimed it is a “classical case” of how the Centre has misused the ED and its wide powers under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to “crush” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leaders.
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