Oppn parties in J&K flay Delhi CM Kejriwal’s arrest as ‘blot on democracy’
BJP says his arrest is right decision
‘Srinagar: Opposition parties in Jammu and Kashmir, including the PDP and the NC, on Friday described Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest as a “blot on democracy” and said it will “dent” the country’s image across the world.
The BJP, however, termed as “right” the decision of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to arrest the Aam Aam Party (AAP) national convener in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case.
“This is the right decision. Whether a person is a chief minister or not. The ED had summoned him nine times. The high court rejected his bail application yesterday. It has been proven that he is involved in the scam,” BJP J&K general secretary (organisation) Ashok Koul said.
National Conference (NC) vice-president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah asserted that his party stands with Kejriwal and the AAP, and said this arrest shows the “remarkable degree of nervousness” in the ruling party — the BJP which is in power at the Centre.
“‘Aisi Taisi Democracy’. For all the talk of 400+ seats, the ruling dispensation is displaying a remarkable degree of nervousness. Having a sitting opposition chief minister arrested by a pliable central agency within days of the general elections being announced is a blot on democracy,” Abdullah said in a post on X.
Later, speaking to reporters here, he claimed that Kejriwal’s arrest was clearly linked to the elections.
“Within days of the EC (Election Commission) announcing the dates for the Lok Sabha polls, you see that the sitting chief minister and an important part of the opposition alliance has been arbitrarily arrested by the ED,” he said.
The AAP, the NC and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are members of the INDIA bloc, an alliance of some opposition parties to counter the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress, the DMK, the TMC and the JMM the Samajwadi Party are also its constituents.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who is also a former chief minister of J&K, said that “the arbitrary arrest of yet another chief minister by ED reeks of political vendetta and growing authoritarianism”.
“This cowardly act has exposed fears of the ruling party now resorting to desperate measures by manipulating elections even before they are held. History has shown that tyranny never prevails in the face of unified resistance. We will not be intimidated,” she said on X.
Former Jharkhand chief minister and JMM leader Hemant Soren was also arrested by the ED in January in a money laundering case after he resigned from his post
The NC leader said Kejriwal is not the first opposition leader to face ED action.
“Some weeks ago, the sitting CM of Jharkhand was also in a similar position. His deputy chief minister was also arrested last year, others also. This is just unfortunately a part of a process whereby democratic institutions in this country have gradually been eroded to a point that they almost now cease to exist,” he said.
Abdullah said whether the country realises the “threat that our democracy faces, only time will tell, but, the legacy that this government would leave is extremely unfortunate for the country”.
Talking to reporters, Mehbooba Mufti said the arrest is condemnable.
“The law states that the culprit should be behind the bars and an innocent person should be free. But, since the BJP came to power, all corrupt persons and culprits join the BJP and their sins are forgiven, they become clean,” she said.
The PDP chief alleged that the BJP wants to finish the opposition.
“They are talking about crossing 400 seats, I think they will not cross even 200 seats. They also froze bank accounts of the Congress, they want to finish the opposition before the elections. So, it is highly condemnable,” she said.
She alleged that the EC was behaving as the “BJP’s B team”.
Senior CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami said, “In J&K, democracy was locked up much before, but now it seems that the democracy in our country, which is famous as the largest democracy in the world, has been locked up. This will be a loss for the country, it will dent the country’s image across the world,” he told PTI Videos.
He said the BJP was resorting to such tactics as the party was not sure of its electoral victory in the general elections.
“Another CM was arrested before this. Many ministers of Delhi are in custody. It looks that the government does not see the prospects of its winning and forming the government again. That is why they have panicked,” he added.
The CPI(M) leader said the government is using central agencies such as the ED and the Income Tax Department to suppress the opposition.
Asked whether the arrest was a tactic before the Lok Sabha polls, NC leader Abdullah said it was not something new. “This has been going on for many years. There is no party left now which opposes the BJP and has not been targeted like this. This is a small part of the new democracy that has been established in our country in the last few years,” he said.
People did not even believe in the courts now, the former chief minister said.
“When there was an Emergency at the time of Indira Gandhi, at least the people had the belief that they could knock on the doors of courts to get justice. But, today, unfortunately when the name of the judge is announced, we know what his decision would be. If this is the situation of our courts, then who will the people believe,” he said, adding it would be very difficult to restore the beliefs and the institutions that have been made hollow in the last five-six years.
To a query about the ED’s summons to NC president Farooq Abdullah, the junior Abdullah said they would face whatever they have to face.
“This is not something new. We have faced it in the past, we will continue to face it. We are fighting against the BJP. We have constantly fought against what the BJP has done to J&K in August 2019,” he said.
Farooq Abdullah was charged by the ED in connection with an alleged cricket scam in 2022.
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference led by Sajad Gani Lone said the party does not support Kejriwal’s arrest.
“We don’t support his arrest though!” party spokesman Adnan Ashraf Mir said on X, while referring to Kejriwal’s post supporting the Centre’s decision on August 5, 2019, when Article 370, which granted special status to the erstwhile state of J&K was revoked.
Unfortunately, the NC vice-president said, these parties (including AAP, and Kejriwal himself) that supported the BJP at that time When Article 370 was abrogated in August 2019), are today bearing the brunt of what the BJP did to us.
“At that time, we were detained, those people supported what the BJP did. Today, they are being detained. It is unfortunate. We always said that whatever happens in J&K, its impact is seen in the rest of the country as well. We had warned all these parties that these arbitrary arrests and making democracy hollow will not stop at J&K, it will impact the whole country and that is what is being seen now,” Omar Abdullah added.
Meanwhile, talking about MLA Sheikh Abdul Rasheed, also known as Engineer Rasheed, who is in jail under UAPA charges, contesting from north Kashmir’s Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency, Abdullah said, “Till now, there has been no trial, he has not been found guilty of anything, keeping him in jail like this is a ploy against him”.
“We all know who is the politician behind all this. We know who has an old animosity with Engineer Rasheed. Everyone knows who is the person who made friendly relations with Delhi and did this to Rasheed,” Abdullah said without naming anyone.
Rasheed was arrested in 2019 and charged by the National Investigation Agency under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), becoming the first mainstream politician to be booked under the stringent anti-terror law. (With inputs from PTI)
Kashmir Images is an English language daily newspaper published from Srinagar (J&K), India. The newspaper is one of the largest circulated English dailies of Kashmir and its hard copies reach every nook and corner of Kashmir Valley besides Jammu and Ladakh region.
