A prominent Indian opposition figure made an appearance in court on Friday to contest his arrest in a case that supporters argue is designed to sideline challengers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of next month’s election.
Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi and a key figure in an opposition coalition formed to challenge Modi in the upcoming polls, was apprehended on Thursday in connection with a protracted corruption investigation.
He is one of several leaders from the coalition facing criminal inquiries, with one of his associates labeling his arrest a “political plot” orchestrated by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Kejriwal was brought to a courtroom in the capital by officials from the Enforcement Directorate, India’s primary financial crimes agency, to seek bail while the case progresses.
Initially, his legal team aimed to contest the legality of his detention in the Supreme Court. However, Shadan Farasat, a lawyer representing Kejriwal, informed AFP that they would instead challenge his detention in a lower court.
Hundreds of supporters from Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rallied on Friday to denounce his arrest. Police dispersed one group of protesters attempting to block a busy intersection.
According to an AFP correspondent at the scene, several demonstrators, including Delhi’s education minister Atishi Marlena Singh and health minister Saurabh Bhardwaj, were detained.
Minor rallies in support of Kejriwal took place in various other Indian cities.
Kejriwal’s administration faced accusations of corruption when it implemented a policy to deregulate liquor sales in 2021 and relinquish a profitable government stake in the sector.
Although the policy was revoked the following year, the subsequent investigation into the alleged corrupt distribution of licenses has led to the imprisonment of two senior allies of Kejriwal.
Kejriwal, aged 55, has served as chief minister for almost a decade and initially rose to power as a staunch anti-corruption advocate. He had repeatedly ignored summonses from the Enforcement Directorate for interrogation as part of the probe.
Singh, the education minister, asserted on Thursday that Kejriwal had not resigned from his position.
“We have made it clear from the beginning that if necessary, Arvind Kejriwal will govern from prison,” she informed reporters.
‘Desperate With-Hunt’
M.K. Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu and another member of the opposition coalition, condemned Kejriwal’s arrest as a “desperate witch-hunt”.
“Not a single BJP leader is under scrutiny or arrest, exposing their abuse of power and the erosion of democracy,” he remarked.
Modi’s political adversaries and international human rights organizations have long raised concerns about the diminishing democratic space in India.
This year, the US democracy think-tank Freedom House stated that the BJP had “increasingly employed government institutions to target political opponents”.
Rahul Gandhi, the prominent figure of the opposition Congress party and scion of a dynasty that dominated Indian politics for decades, was convicted of criminal defamation last year following a complaint by a member of Modi’s party.
His two-year imprisonment led to his temporary disqualification from parliament until a higher court suspended the verdict. However, it raised further apprehensions regarding democratic standards in the world’s most populous nation.
Both Kejriwal and Gandhi are part of an opposition coalition comprising more than two dozen parties contesting India’s national elections scheduled from April to June.
Despite the criminal investigations targeting its prominent leaders, few anticipate the coalition making significant headway against Modi, who remains popular a decade after assuming office.
Many analysts perceive Modi’s reelection as inevitable, partly due to the resonance of his assertive Hindu-nationalist politics with the country’s majority Hindu population.
