Greeting his supporters outside the jail premises, the Delhi CM exuded confidence, stating that his resolve and morale has grown 100 times more to fight the “anti-national forces dividing the country”.
“First of all, I thank God with whose blessings I am standing here. I thank lakhs and crores of people who came here in this heavy rainfall,” Kejriwal said in his first remarks after walking out of jail as his supporters celebrated the release with fireworks.
Read also: ‘Fail to understand the great urgency to …’: What SC said while granting bail to Arvind Kejriwal
“My life is dedicated to the country. Every moment of my life, every drop of blood is dedicated to the country. I have seen a lot of struggle in life, faced a lot of hardships, but God has supported me at every step because I was truthful and honest,” he added.
“I have faced many difficulties in my life but God has supported me at every step. This time too God supported me because I was honest,” the CM said.
The Delhi CM also hit out at the central government, saying the BJP along with the central agencies conspired to break his morale by falsely putting him in jail. “My morale is higher than ever, prisons cannot weaken me”. He also vowed to continue fighting “anti-national forces working to weaken and divide the country”.
Meanwhile, many in the party ranks, who are jubilant over his release hailed it as a victory for “AAP and democracy”
“This is a big day for AAP and democracy. Today justice has won,.” RS MP Raghav Chadda told news agency ANI from the celebration site.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court granted bail to Arvind Kejriwal in corruption case linked to the alleged liquor policy scam. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan pulled up the Central Bureau of Investigation while delivering the judgement and said that prolonged incarceration amounts to unjust deprivation of liberty.
The top court added that Kejriwal was arrested only after he was granted bail in PMLA case and it was done only to keep him in custody. Justice Bhuyan also observed that the CBI must take steps to remove the perception of being a caged parrot and like caesar wife it must be above suspicion while conducting probe.
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21, 2024, in connection with a money laundering probe relating to alleged irregularities in the now-cancelled Delhi excise policy 2021-22. On June 26, 2024, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by CBI while he was in custody of the Enforcement Directorate in the excise case.
The AAP chief is accused of accepting kickbacks from a group of businessmen in return for granting them favours in the formulation and implementation of now-scrapped excise policy.