5 takeaways from Arvind Kejriwal’s speech: Invoking British Raj to ‘advice’ for non-BJP CMs

Five takeaways from the AAP chief’s first address to party workers after his release:

‘Don’t resign… we can run govt from jail’

Kejriwal, who along with former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and other AAP leaders was arrested in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam, said his party was the only one that could stand up to the BJP. “The BJP tried to prove him (Sisodia) corrupt. They cannot provide good schools and free electricity to people because they are corrupt. We are honest. They slap false cases against non-BJP Chief Ministers. If other CMs are arrested, I urge them not to resign but run the government from jail,” the Delhi CM said, making a reference to his counterparts Hemant Soren (Jharkhand), Siddaramaiah (Karnataka), Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), and Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal).

Kejriwal added that the Supreme Court also suggested in his case that he could run the government from jail, and that he did not resign (after being arrested) “because I respect democracy and the Constitution is supreme for me”.

Invokes AAP icon Bhagat Singh, British Raj

Kejriwal invoked the British Raj several times, including to slam Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena for not heeding to his request to let AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi hoist the Tricolour on Independence Day in his absence.

“When Shaheed Bhagat Singh was in jail, he wrote letters to many people and the British sent these letters to the people outside. But when I went to jail, I wrote only one letter to the L-G, requesting him that on August 15, Atishi should be allowed to hoist the flag in my place. But that letter was not delivered to the L-G and a warning was issued that if you write a letter to the L-G, your meeting with your family will be stopped.”

Kejriwal also said that while freedom fighters were allowed meetings with colleagues, “my party colleague Sandeep Pathak was not allowed to meet me in jail” after one meeting where they discussed politics. “We are politicians… so we discussed politics.”

‘People important, not BJP’

Close on the heels of his party’s war of words with the BJP over the Delhi government’s works in slums, Kejriwal, in a bid to stress that he was not “power hungry”, emphasised that he cared for the people and not the BJP.

“I will only sit in the CM’s chair after people give me a certificate of honesty. I want to give ‘agnipariksha’ after coming out of jail. I will become CM and Manish Sisodia Deputy CM only when people say we are honest. For me, the BJP is not important, people are important,” he said.

Referring to his 2014 resignation, the CM said he had quit for his ideals. “I do not have a lust for power,” he added.

‘No attack on Congress’

Interestingly, the Delhi CM stayed shy of attacking the Congress, with which his party recently had unsuccessful seat-sharing talks for the coming Haryana Assembly polls.

The AAP had fought the recent Lok Sabha polls as a part of the INDIA bloc and contested four of the seven seats in Delhi as a part of its alliance with the Congress, which contested three seats. However, the BJP won all seven seats. In Haryana, a section of the Congress is believed to have prevented any truck with the AAP.

‘I lived in slums’

Asking people of Delhi to come out in strength – “jam ke” – and vote, Kejriwal constantly invoked his government’s work in “setting up schools” and said he himself had lived in slums before he forayed into politics and knew how the poor lived.