Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
New Delhi: In a strongly-worded statement, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra criticized the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) this evening, branding it as “completely wrong and unconstitutional.” Kejriwal was taken into custody in connection with a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise scam.
Vadra, a prominent leader of the INDIA bloc, became the first to condemn the arrest. “Targeting Delhi Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal in this manner due to elections is completely wrong and unconstitutional. Lowering the level of politics in this manner suits neither the Prime Minister nor his government,” she expressed on X platform, mere moments after Kejriwal’s detention.
She continued, asserting the importance of democratic principles in political discourse. “Fight your critics in the electoral battle, confront them boldly, and of course attack their policies and working style – this is democracy. But in this way, using the power of all the institutions of the country to fulfill one’s political objective and weakening them by exerting pressure is against every principle of democracy,” she emphasized.
Highlighting the broader context of opposition targeting by the ruling BJP ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha polls, Vadra lamented, “The bank accounts of the country’s largest opposition party Congress have been frozen, all the political parties and their leaders are under pressure day and night from the ED, the CBI, and the IT, one Chief Minister has been put in jail, now preparations are being made to take another Chief Minister to jail. Such a shameful scene is being seen for the first time in the history of Independent India.”
Kejriwal’s arrest marks a historic moment as he becomes the first sitting Chief Minister to face detention in the history of Independent India. However, his party affirmed that he would continue to hold his position amidst the legal proceedings.
