Opinion With Sanjay Singh’s arrest, Centre must pay heed to SC’s questions on Sisodia

The arrest of AAP’s Sanjay Singh, Rajya Sabha MP, by the Enforcement Directorate, in connection with the Delhi excise policy case, raises questions that are, by now, all too familiar. The merits of the case will be decided by the due course it takes, of course, under the law of the land. The questions, however, have to do with a pattern that has been firming up over the last several years, of which Singh’s arrest appears to be a part – of Central agencies, ED and CBI, overzealous in their targeting of leaders and parties of the Opposition, especially ahead of elections. The other side of the same story is the conspicuous silence and relative effeteness of these agencies in states ruled by the BJP and the agencies rewriting their dossiers once the accused switches party lines. The jump in ED cases against politicians and the disproportionate numbers of Opposition leaders among them, and a similar surge in the share of Opposition leaders in the CBI net in the tenure of the Narendra Modi government, is as striking as it is disquieting. It has taken a high toll on the AAP in Delhi, especially. Three prominent leaders of the party that showed a dizzying rise in a political system with a very high threshold of electoral viability are now in jail – former senior minister and party No 2 Manish Sisodia, former minister Satyendra Jain, and now Singh, the party’s face in Parliament and in negotiations with other parties. And the spectre of the excise policy case, which has led to the arrests of Sisodia and Singh, still overhangs the party.

The Delhi government’s new excise policy, introduced in November 2021, allowed private licencees to run liquor stores, ostensibly to crack down on black marketing, increase government revenue and improve customer experience. It soon ran into controversy, with the L-G recommending a CBI probe, and the Arvind Kejriwal government itself rolling back the policy less than a year later, amid allegations of bending of rules, bribes and kickbacks allegedly funnelled into the AAP’s electoral campaign in Goa. But the work of connecting the dots and laying out the money trail is evidently still not done. On Thursday, the Supreme Court, hearing a bail petition in the Sisodia case, pointed this out and asked some tough questions. The chain of evidence has not been fully established, it said. Where is the proof against Sisodia, except for a statement by a businessman who is himself an accused in the case and has turned approver, it asked.

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The Centre, to which the CBI and ED report, must heed the court’s questions. The corrupt need to be investigated and prosecuted as per law and due process; and of course, the need for probity in government should be a vital element of any politial discourse in a democracy. But the Centre must know that the impression is gaining ground that its agencies are uncovering alleged irregularities selectively, to settle political scores. Trust in the state’s fairness and impartiality, and the autonomy and credibility of its institutions, is at stake.