Digvijaya condemns Kejriwal's arrest, says ‘unconstitutional emergency’ in force in country

Bhopal: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Friday deplored the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying an “unconstitutional emergency” is prevalent in the country where the voice of the opposition and democracy are being stifled.

“His fault was that he became an INDIA bloc partner and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress are fighting elections in Delhi together. I strongly castigate the arrest,” the Rajya Sabha member told reporters here.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Kejriwal in an excise policy-linked money laundering case on Thursday night, drawing criticism from opposition parties.

“Sure, he has been arrested under it,” said Singh when asked whether Kejriwal’s arrest has come under what he calls “unconstitutional emergency”.

“His fault was he did not present himself after being served notices. He was arrested," the Congress leader said.

“In the history of India, this is the first time two sitting chief ministers have been sent to jail. (Then) Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren was pressured to join BJP with the promise that cases against him would be scrapped as done in other cases,” Singh claimed.

But Shoren preferred going to jail. “This is the true tribal character,” Singh said.

Some people compare the “emergencies of the 70s and now”, the Congress leader said.

“That emergency came into being under an Act which means under a law... But this emergency is unconstitutional by the way of which Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax and CBI are being asked to throttle people and extort,” he alleged.

The voice of democracy and opposition are being stifled, claimed the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister.

He also targeted the BJP-ruled Centre over the alleged freezing of his party’s accounts.

“Efforts are on to put roadblocks and remove Congress from the way of the election process and how to stifle it. Congress emerged as the second-largest party in the last (general) elections. In the mother of democracy or the largest democracy of the world, the Congress which has raised funds is unable to spend the money,” he said.