Former IRS officer and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal plunged into the heat and dust of campaigning for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections with a road show, her first-ever in the Capital, in the East Delhi constituency.
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 on charges of money laundering linked to the now-scrapped Delhi Excise policy and, ever since his arrest, it is his wife who has stepped out of his shadow and adopted a more public role. She has been addressing the public via video statements carrying the chief minister’s messages and has also attended two rallies of the INDIA bloc — January 31 in Delhi and April 21 in Ranchi. She has been spearheading the AAP’s fightback — defending her husband, challenging the BJP and even taking the “Kejriwal ki guarantees” to the people. Sunita Kejriwal has already campaigned in Gujarat with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Amidst a robust presence of people, a sea of AAP’s trademark yellow-blue flags and the Left’s red sickle and hammer flags, ‘Mein Bhi Kejriwal’, ‘Jail Ka Jawab Vote Se’ and ‘Jai Bheem’ cutouts, Sunita Kejriwal — clad in a green salwar kameez — led the road show with AAP candidate Kuldeep Kumar by her side, mostly greeting people silently with folded hands and speaking briefly.
The last time so many people were visible in an AAP protest or rally on the roads was when the then deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was arrested on February 26, 2023. Sisodia’s assembly constituency of Patpartganj falls in the East Delhi constituency. Sunita Kejriwal is filling the void created by the absence of her husband and steeling herself for a bigger role should the need arise. Congress flags and posters were conspicuous by their absence, indicating that it was an AAP show throughout.
Calling his incarceration an act of ‘goondagardi’, she appealed to the people to come out and vote to “save democracy and defeat ‘tanashahi’”. The former IRS officer alleged that authorities have turned against her husband because he made electricity and water free, and built Mohalla Clinics and schools. She added that the blessings of the common people have ensured that Arvind Kejriwal “neither bends nor breaks”.
“I beseech you to save this country from tanashahi… you will have to show the power of your vote… you have to vote to save democracy, defeat tanashahi. Jail ka jawab vote se denge,” she said, ending her first speech in the road show.
With inputs from News18