Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal is set to face imprisonment. The Delhi Chief Minister has come to terms with his fate as the enforcement directorate is poised to question, arrest, and incarcerate him. Kejriwal has convinced himself, along with his fellow Delhi MLAs and Council of Ministers, that he cannot evade prison. This belief has become the prevailing sentiment within AAP circles in Delhi and Punjab. To ensure Kejriwal doesn’t have second thoughts at the eleventh hour, Delhi’s AAP MLAs have assured him that he will retain his position as Chief Minister even while spending nights in Tihar jail. The consensus within AAP is that Delhi’s governance will continue from Tihar once Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal submits to the enforcement directorate’s proceedings. Kejriwal has been contemplating his impending confinement for some time now, and despite initially resisting the idea when the summons arrived, he has now accepted his fate as a political prisoner. This unique opportunity places him in the company of luminaries like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. AAP legislators pledged their allegiance to a Chief Minister who has consistently refused to hold any portfolio or sign official documents.
The overwhelming mandates with which Delhi and Punjab voted for AAP attest to Kejriwal’s popularity among the general public. His ability to secure resounding election victories makes him a formidable adversary for the BJP and the Congress. Kejriwal’s claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to neutralize the Kejriwal threat is not unfounded. Both the BJP and the Congress would prefer to see the Delhi Chief Minister incarcerated. The Congress has been in political obscurity in Delhi since Kejriwal’s AAP emerged as a dominant force. Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, when it occurs, will be a setback to the INDI-Alliance, but the Congress is likely to recover swiftly. If Kejriwal does end up in jail, he will be in the company of close confidantes Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, with the possibility of more colleagues joining them. “Arrest” has become the default status for AAP politicians, with the latest addition being Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, a legislator from Amargarh, who was arrested by the ED after defying the summons. Kejriwal cannot afford to ignore subsequent summons, as a similar fate could befall him. The Delhi Chief Minister is not at liberty to skip more than three summons, necessitating the meeting with his MLAs to strategize. While he can perform various functions from behind bars, including governing Delhi from Tihar, electioneering is one task he cannot undertake.
The BJP is apprehensive of Kejriwal and aims to remove him. MLAs at the meeting asserted that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will continue to lead Delhi from jail since the votes were cast in his name. There is no legal prohibition against running a government from jail. Arvind Kejriwal will remain Chief Minister, and officers and cabinet ministers will interact with him from jail. If all ministers are arrested, the government will continue to operate from jail, with AAP MLAs outside implementing decisions. The people of Delhi have recognized the BJP’s intentions, and the feedback indicates that they are fed up with the BJP’s political manoeuvres. Hence, all AAP MLAs have requested Kejriwal to remain Chief Minister even if he is arrested and jailed. The people of Delhi have elected him, and there is nothing unethical or inappropriate about this decision.
