New Delhi: The streets outside echoed with chants of ‘aa gaya Kejriwal’ as Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal walked out of Tihar Jail Friday, nearly six months after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 21 March of this year.
His release unfolded like a scene straight out of a film: a drenched Kejriwal standing atop his car in a blue shirt, addressing the crowd amid a downpour.
“The walls of their jail cannot weaken Kejriwal’s courage,” he declared.
Earlier in the day, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan, which had reserved its order on 5 September, granted Kejriwal bail in the Delhi excise policy case on a bail bond of Rs 10 lakh.
As the AAP chief walked out of gate number 3 of Tihar jail, Punjabi tunes including the iconic Rang De Basanti Chola filled the air as party workers hailed their leader’s return with a bevy of dhols and garlands.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj, and party leaders Sanjay Singh and Manish Sisodia were among those who received Kejriwal upon his release.
Sisodia joined the crowd, standing atop a car as supporters chanted, “Jail ka taala toot gaya, Kejriwal chhoot gaya!”
This was followed by firecrackers that lit up the sky as a sea of supporters erupted in celebration, with a wedding band in tow. One could also spot supporters holding up posters of Ambedkar, and the Indian tricolour.
Among those gathered outside Tihar Jail was Jarnail Singh, three-time AAP MLA from Delhi’s Tilak Nagar who is also the party’s incharge of Punjab. Comparing Kejriwal’s release to the Hindu festival of Krishna Janmashtami, he told ThePrint: “Truth has prevailed today. The Supreme Court’s verdict makes it clear that the BJP orchestrated this because they feared the upcoming elections and the work being done in Delhi.”
Singh further asserted that with Kejriwal’s return, AAP has regained its strength ahead of assembly elections in various states including Haryana where the party is contesting all 90 seats by itself.
Senior AAP leaders including Delhi minister Gopal Rai and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha were missing from the scene, along with members of Kejriwal’s family.
Thanking everybody who “braved the rain” to see him, Kejriwal said he would continue to fight “anti-national forces working to weaken our country.”
As ThePrint reported earlier, while the two-judge bench was unanimous in their decision to grant Kejriwal bail, the judges held differing opinions on the necessity and timing of his arrest. Justice Kant said the arrest by the CBI was not illegal, while Justice Bhuyan said it was “imperative that CBI dispels the notion of it being a caged parrot”.
Kejriwal had filed two petitions in the top court—one challenging a Delhi HC order denying him bail and another seeking to quash his arrest by the CBI.
Under the bail conditions, Kejriwal has been prohibited by the top court from making any public comments on the excise policy0 case and to attend all hearings before the trial court unless exempted.
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on 21 March in connection with a money laundering investigation tied to the Delhi government’s now-scrapped excise policy 2021-22. Later, on 26 June, the CBI arrested him on charges of corruption in connection with its own probe into the excise policy case.
He was granted interim bail on 12 July by the Supreme Court to campaign for AAP candidates in the Lok Sabha elections.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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