NEW DELHI, Aug. 26 — Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday lashed out at the BJP-led Centre over a proposed bill requiring jailed chief ministers and ministers to step down, calling it a political weapon to shield corruption within the ruling party while targeting opponents.
Kejriwal questioned whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has welcomed leaders facing criminal allegations into the BJP and elevated them as chief ministers and deputy chief ministers, should resign by the same logic.
“If someone is falsely implicated, sent to jail, and later acquitted, then how many years of imprisonment should the minister who filed the false case against them receive?” he asked in a post on X.
The AAP national convenor drew a sharp contrast between his tenure and the BJP government in Delhi, saying that under the so-called “Jail Government” — when he ran the administration from prison — residents faced no shortage of electricity, water, medicines, or school accountability. “In just seven months, the BJP has wrecked everything,” he said.
Reiterating the charge, Kejriwal wrote: “Should a person who welcomes criminals accused of serious offences into his party, gets their cases dismissed, and elevates them as ministers, deputy chief ministers, or even chief ministers, not be required to resign from his position? And if someone is falsely implicated in a case, sent to jail, and later acquitted, how many years of imprisonment should the minister responsible for framing him face?”
Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia amplified the demand, reposting Kejriwal’s statement and saying, “If someone is falsely implicated in a case, sent to jail, and later acquitted, then how many years of imprisonment should the minister who filed the false case against them receive?”
At a press briefing, AAP’s chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar launched a scathing response to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks, calling the proposed legislation “a shameful day for democracy.”
She said, “This Bill basically says that if you surrender and join the BJP, like Himanta Biswa Sarma, Praful Patel or Ajit Pawar, you will be sworn in as minister at 5 in the morning. But if you don’t bow within 30 days, your position is snatched.”
Kakkar argued that ordinary people only care about whether their government delivers basic services.
“Delhiites fondly remember the period when Arvind Kejriwal ran the government from jail because electricity, water, schools, and hospitals were functioning far better than they are today,” she said.
“Under BJP rule, people are facing 8-hour power cuts, dry taps or contaminated water, skyrocketing school fees, and hospitals where neither tests nor treatment are available.”
She accused the BJP of systematically trying to dismantle the Opposition.
“When the BJP failed to match Kejriwal’s governance, it disqualified 21 AAP MLAs, attempted horse-trading, and filed false cases without evidence,” Kakkar said, citing Supreme Court remarks describing the Enforcement Directorate as “crooked” and the CBI as a “caged parrot.”
She added that the apex court itself has noted the lack of evidence against Kejriwal and said agencies acted with malice.
Calling the draft law a “legalised method to break governments,” Kakkar demanded accountability for those who misuse investigative agencies. “If a leader is corrupt, he should be jailed for life, not 30 days. But if someone is proven innocent, those who filed false cases against him should be punished with the same sentence the innocent leader was forced to undergo,” she said.
