‘How many years for those shielding criminals’: Kejriwal hits back at Amit Shah’s jail remarks
New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sharply rebutted Indian Home Minister Amit Shah’s comments that he (Kejriwal) should not have continued governing from jail.
According to Kashmir Media Service, in a statement, Kejriwal, taking a sharp dig at Amit Shah, questioned what would be done to a leader who inducts hardened criminals into his party, helps them wipe off their cases and then rewards them. He added, “Should such a minister or PM not be forced to step down? How many years of imprisonment should such a person face?”
The AAP leader further raised questions about political accountability in cases of false prosecution. “If someone is falsely implicated in a case, sent to jail, and later acquitted, how many years of imprisonment should the minister who falsely implicated him face?”
Kejriwal’s remarks came after Amit Shah, in a media interview, commented on the 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill, and alluding to Kejriwal, had asked if it was “fair for ministers, chief ministers or even the prime minister — accused of corruption or facing charges with more than five years’ punishment — to run the government from jail?”
The proposed 130th amendment Bill entails removal of the PM, CMs and ministers if they are in jail for more than 30 days under a serious offence carrying a punishment of five years or more.
Kejriwal had refused to step down as CM when he was jailed over the alleged scam linked to the scrapped Delhi liquor policy and continued to serve as chief minister from Tihar jail.
In a post on X, Kejriwal once again defended his stance to run the government from jail. He said, “Under a political conspiracy, when the central government framed me in a false case and sent me to jail, I ran the government for 160 days from jail. In the last seven months, the BJP government in Delhi has made such a mess that people are now remembering that ‘jail government’… at least then, there were no power cuts, water was supplied, free medicines and mohalla clinic tests were available, schools were not allowed to loot.”
