By Sushil Kutty
The one big difference between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is the “wife” factor. Kejriwal’s wife Sunitha Kejriwal appears to be on his side where Modi’s doesn’t appear on Modi’s side. Sunitha Kejriwal was speaking up for Kejriwal when the Enforcement Directorate arrested him on March 21 and speaking for him when he was sent to Tihar. The AAP, which was left to fend for itself, found Sunitha Kejriwal taking charge rather comforting although Kejriwal clarified that he remained Chief Minister and would rule Delhi from Tihar Jail if it came to that.
Now, Sunitha Kejriwal is back taking up cudgels for Arvind Kejriwal, challenging the Modi government and blaming Modi for the Delhi Chief Minister’s travails which seem to be never ending. Seen with a different pair of eyes, something bad is always happening to Arvind Kejriwal. Not that good doesn’t happen to the Delhi Chief Minister. Like on Thursday, June 20, the Aam Aadmi Party convener was granted bail by a Delhi trial court, which refused to listen to the Enforcement Directorate’s objections, which were apparently not grounded in reason.
But, like what happens with Kejriwal all the time, on Friday morning, the Delhi High Court “paused” Kejriwal’s bail, back to “bad” happening to Kejriwal, right when the AAP was celebrating the bail given to Kejriwal. Bail for Kejriwal had enthused the Aam Aadmi Party and AAP leaders were gathered at the Delhi Chief Minister’s official residence to receive him “home”.
But the AAP leaders couldn’t believe it when the Delhi High Court “paused” Kejriwal’s bail and another hearing, this one in the High Court, began with Kejriwal watching it live from his Tihar cell, the drama unfolding in the Delhi High Court. Then again, Kejriwal wouldn’t have made it home till after 6-7 pm in the evening as the jail has a procedure in place.
Kejriwal wouldn’t have been the only inmate walking out of the Tihar on Friday evening. Jails do not release prisoners on a first-come, first-released basis. What if by not following set procedure the wrong inmate is set free? Such confusions are rare but they do happen and heads would roll. The Delhi High Court said it will have to study the lower court’s order. For Sunitha Kejriwal this was enough to slam the Modi government and question its intentions.
Sunitha Kejriwal said her husband’s bail order was stayed even before it was uploaded on the trial court’s website. “My husband is being treated as if he is a terrorist,” the outraged wife eviscerated the Modi government, alleging that Modi was “running a dictatorship.” Sunitha Kejriwal said “dictatorship in the country had crossed all limits”. Come to think of it, even Arvind Kejriwal, the man with “anarchy” in his eyes, could have been more scalding in his remarks than Sunitha Kejriwal.
“Even before Kejriwal’s bail order was uploaded, ED reached the high court. They are behaving as if he is a terrorist,” Sunitha Kejriwal said, not neglecting her “duties” as the Chief Minister’s wife, which included sitting in solidarity with Delhi Water Supply Minister Atishi Marlena who is on an indefinite hunger strike to press the Centre to give water to the thirsty Delhi-ites. The fasting Delhi minister will only have water.
“To appeal to the Haryana government, Atishi is going to do ‘satyagraha’ for an indefinite period. She will not eat anything and only take water. She is doing this for the thirsty people of Delhi. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal says that he is pained to see on TV the sufferings of the people of Delhi. He hopes Atishi’s penance will be successful and the public will get some relief,” Sunitha Kejriwal said, blaming neighbouring states for Delhi’s water scarcity.
Sunitha Kejriwal found it appalling that at such a time of crisis, rival parties were indulging in politics. AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who himself is out on bail in the same case, said “BJP’s cruelty” was at the bottom of Delhi’s water crisis. “Delhi water comes through Haryana and Haryana gets water from Punjab. The Punjab government says that we won’t stop Haryana’s water supply. However, the BJP government in Haryana isn’t doing the same.”
The always combative AAP now has more to feel angry about after Arvind Kejriwal’s bail got nixed in the bud. If anybody thought the ED will behave after Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a drubbing in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections for his arrogance and more was thinking wrong. The setback to the BJP has only made the ED far more aggressive in pursuing BJP’s objectives. The High Court’s intervention is a big blow to Kejriwal, and to the AAP, which incidentally, say unconfirmed reports, has quit the INDI-Alliance.
So, it will be nobody’s case that Kejriwal is being hounded and bad things are happening to him. It is hardly likely that the INDI-Alliance will meet again on a single stage with Sunitha Kejriwal sitting next to Sonia Gandhi in apparent solidarity. Whatever “bad” happens to the Delhi Chief Minister will be AAP’s affair and AAP’s doing, nobody else’s. The Congress, after results day June 4, is on a different high to care for AAP and for Arvind Kejriwal.
It is left to Sunitha Kejriwal and Atishi Marlena to see to it that AAP doesn’t flounder in choppy political waters in Kejriwal’s absence. If the High Court takes a dim view of the Enforcement Directorate’s reasoning and ratifies Kejriwal’s bail, then all is good and fine; if not, then Kejriwal will remain behind bars for an extended period and it will be time once again for Sunitha Kejriwal to step forward and take charge for Kejriwal’s sake. (IPA Service)
