INDIA To Hold Rally On March 31 To Protest Kejriwal Arrest

New Delhi [India] : Launching an attack on Centre, over the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the ED, AAP minister Atishi on Sunday announced that a rally will be organised by the INDIA bloc on March 31 in his support.

The Rouse Avenue Court on Friday remanded Kejriwal to six days of ED custody in the money laundering case related to the alleged liquor policy scam case till March 28 following his arrest on March 21.

AAP minister Atishi said, "INDIA alliance is organising a 'Maha Rally' in the Ramlila Maidan on March 31. This is not being organised to save Arvind Kejriwal but to save the democracy. The opposition leaders are being targeted, they are being put in jail. Sitting chief ministers are being sent to jail after the announcement of elections. The CM is being put in jail while bank accounts of opposition parties are being frozen," she said.

"The constitution of India which guarantees democracy, today, is in danger. We are organizing a rally to save democracy," Atishi said.

Meanwhile, many leaders in the Opposition, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav, the DMK came out in support of the Delhi Chief Minister.

"A scared dictator wants to create a dead democracy. While capturing all the institutions, including the media, breaking up the parties, extorting money from companies, and freezing the accounts of the main opposition party was not enough for the 'devilish power', now the arrest of the elected chief ministers has also become a common thing," Congress leader Rahul Gandhi posted on X.

"He said that the opposition INDIA bloc will give a "befitting reply to this".

Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge called Kejriwal's arrest, "a step taken to weaken the opposition before the Lok Sabha election".

"The arrogant BJP, which makes false claims of victory every day, is trying to weaken the opposition by all means and illegal means before the elections. If there was real confidence in victory, then the accounts of the main opposition party - the Congress Party, would not have been frozen by misusing the constitutional institutions; leaders of opposition parties would not have been targeted right before the elections," Kharge posted from his X handle.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also voiced criticism over the arrest of Delhi CM, alleging that government institutions like ED, CBI, and income tax were working as instruments for the government.

"These are government institutions, they'll do what the government wants. This raises the question of whether in a democracy, institutions operate as instruments to please the BJP. They are filing false cases against Opposition leaders. They are setting records in putting Opposition leaders behind bars in false cases," Akhilesh said.