Interview with Arvind Kejriwal: “Only the Prime Minister can answer how long he wants to keep me in jail… If I resign (from the post of Chief Minister), next time the Mamata and Pinarayi governments will be out “
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal talks about his hope to “manage democracy” from inside Tihar Jail, what a third term under PM Modi might be like, and why he believes the BJP may not win a majority. Will do. Edited excerpts:
You are the first Prime Minister to be sent to jail. Now that you have been released on temporary bail, what do you think about the time you spent there?
The country is going through a very difficult period. Slowly and now very fast the country is moving towards dictatorship. They (BJP government at the Centre) first arrested (former Jharkhand chief) Hemant Soren, then me. By arresting me, they are giving a message to the people of the country that if they can arrest Kejriwal in a false case, they can arrest anyone.
Therefore they should be feared, and people should do what they say. These are the symptoms of dictatorship, under democracy they should listen to the people, but they ask people to listen to them. We have to save the country from this. In a way it is like a fight for freedom. Many of the people who inspire me today were jailed for long periods at that time. I went to jail to save the country, not because I am corrupt. Not because Manish Sisodia did anything wrong. Just as people went to jail for a long time to save the independence of this country, similarly we will go to jail to save democracy and the Constitution. I have always said that I can sacrifice my life for the country. This is part of this struggle.
Your party claims that there is no liquor fraud but the courts (which are hearing the bail plea) do not agree with this claim.
PMLA has turned the entire criminal jurisprudence upside down. Even now in the criminal system, an FIR will be registered, investigation will be done, a case will be filed and the court will decide whether the person is guilty or innocent. Only then will the guilty person be punished. Now the matter is reversed. FIR is filed and the person you suspect is arrested on the very first day. After that the investigation is going on and he remains in jail. Only when someone is declared innocent in the court is he released from jail. This is what PMLA says. That’s why no one gets bail. The punishment rate is nothing, all the cases are fake. This law is designed to completely eliminate the opposition – either people join BJP or go to jail.
What makes you say the BJP is targeting AAP and, specifically, you?
Tremendous rise of Aam Aadmi Party. Many people who meet the Prime Minister, some of whom are our friends, tell us that the Prime Minister often discusses the AAP process. He says that in future Aam Aadmi Party will challenge him at the national level and in many states. They want to nip it in the bud and crush the Aam Aadmi Party before it can grow. These days they are running ‘Operation Broom’ arresting AAP leaders… Mr. Raju (Additional Solicitor General SV Raju) issued a statement that they will seize our accounts after the elections. The process of vacating our office is underway. But they are not able to understand that Aam Aadmi Party is no longer a party of four people. This is now an idea spreading across the country. The quality of work we have done in the fields of education and health has never been seen before. Why did we win in Punjab? Because the echo of our work in Delhi was heard there. Why did people vote for us in Gujarat? Because our work is in Punjab and Delhi.
And Arvind Kejriwal, the individual?
Because I am the main leader of AAP, they feel that if they crush and target me then AAP will end. When they arrested me, they were hoping that they would brand me corrupt, all our leaders would break, AAP would break, they would break our MLAs, topple our government and there would be no one left to campaign. The opposite happened. After my arrest, the message spread among the people that a simple and honest man has been arrested. None of our leaders separated, the party became more united and the volunteers worked with double the energy.
After your release on interim bail, you said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retire at 75 and Home Minister Amit Shah will step into his shoes. Why? This was countered by Shah…
Amit Shah ji and many others had said this that day, but it was their appeal to the Prime Minister that he should not retire. Modi ji did not confirm this. If he does not follow the rule made by him then people will say that he has made this rule only to eliminate Advani ji. If Modi says I will not retire and this rule does not apply to me, I will believe it. No doubt other leaders would say the same. He did not say so, because it meant that he would retire next year. There is a very ugly fight of succession going on within the BJP. Modi wants Shah ji to become the Prime Minister, which is not acceptable to the rest of the BJP.
But the Prime Minister said that he has no successor and the people of the country are his successor…
Modi will have to clarify whether this rule applies to him or not. Or was he brought only to eliminate Advani ji and Murli Manohar Joshi ji?
You claim that you will run the government from jail. Why and how…and what will happen if it is not allowed?
First let me tell you why I am not resigning. People accuse me of being stuck to my chair. I have never been greedy for chair or position. When I was Income Tax Commissioner, I stopped working in the slums of Delhi for 10 years.
When I became Prime Minister, I resigned within 49 days without any provocation. I did it for my principles. This time I will not resign because this is part of my struggle. They (BJP) realize that they cannot defeat Kejriwal in Delhi – we got 67 seats on one occasion, 62 on the other occasion – so they have accused Kejriwal in a false case.
Unless Kejriwal resigns and his government is overthrown. This is a threat to democracy. If I resign today, they will topple Mamata Banerjee and Pinarayi Vijayan government tomorrow. Wherever BJP loses, the Prime Minister can be arrested and his government can be toppled. This battle must be fought. If they put democracy in jail then democracy will run from jail. We will fight this with full force.
