FREED OPPOSITION LEADER URGE INDIANS TO BATTLE 'DICTATORSHIP'

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On Saturday, a prominent opponent of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on his fellow citizens to oppose “dictatorship” following his temporary release from prison to participate in the country’s election campaign.

After spending weeks in detention, Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of the nation’s capital, Delhi, and a pivotal figure in the opposition alliance assembled to oppose Modi in the elections, was granted release on Friday.

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His party described his detention as a “political conspiracy” carried out by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to discredit its opponents ahead of the election. He is one of numerous bloc leaders who are the subject of criminal investigations.

In a defiant press conference the day after his release, Kejriwal said the outcome of the election would determine whether India remained a democracy.

“I have come to beg 1.4 billion people to save my country,” he said. “Save my country from this dictatorship.”

Kejriwal also personally accused the prime minister of targeting his opponents with criminal probes.

“Modi has started a very dangerous mission,” he said. “Modi will send all opposition leaders to jail.”

Kejriwal’s government was accused of corruption when it liberalised the sale of liquor in 2021 and gave up a lucrative government stake in the sector.

The next year, the policy was reversed, but not before an investigation into the purportedly dishonest licensing process resulted in the incarceration of two prominent Kejriwal loyalists.

Following his detention, protests in favour of Kejriwal were staged in many other major Indian cities. Kejriwal refused to resign from his position.

He was hailed by more than a thousand jubilant supporters on Friday night as he left the Tihar Jail in the capital.

The 55-year-old Kejriwal was an outspoken opponent of corruption when she first took office and has served as chief minister for almost ten years.

He had resisted multiple summons from the Enforcement Directorate, India’s financial crimes agency, to be interrogated as part of the probe.

Kejriwal has consistently denied any wrongdoing since allegations of corruption were first levelled against him, including again on Saturday.

“They sent me to jail and the PM says he is fighting against corruption,” he said.

“If you want to fight corruption, learn from Arvind Kejriwal.”

The Supreme Court said Friday he could temporarily leave jail to campaign in India’s six-week election, on the condition that he returns to custody after the last day of voting on June 1.

“No doubt, serious accusations have been made, but he has not been convicted,” the court’s ruling said. “He is not a threat to the society.”

His release was also made conditional on his agreement not to make public comment on the case against him, not to interact with witnesses in the case and not to visit the offices of the Delhi government.

Modi’s political opponents and international rights groups have long sounded the alarm on India’s shrinking democratic space.

US think tank Freedom House said this year that the BJP had “increasingly used government institutions to target political opponents”.

Rahul Gandhi, the most prominent member of the opposition Congress party and scion of a dynasty that dominated Indian politics for decades, was convicted of criminal libel last year after a complaint by a member of Modi’s party.

His two-year prison sentence saw him disqualified from parliament until the verdict was suspended by a higher court, and raised concerns over democratic norms.

Kejriwal and Gandhi are both leading members of an opposition alliance composed of more than two dozen parties that is jointly contesting India’s election.

Voting is conducted in seven phases over six weeks to ease the immense logistical burden of staging the democratic exercise in the world’s most populous country.

Four more rounds will be staged over the coming weeks, with results expected on June 4.

AFP