A top opponent of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday urged his compatriots to resist “dictatorship”, after the country’s top court provisionally released him from jail to campaign in national elections.
Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of the capital Delhi and a key leader in an opposition alliance formed to compete against Modi in the polls, was granted bail on Friday after weeks in custody.
In a defiant press conference the day after his release, Kejriwal said the outcome of the election would determine whether India remained a democracy.
“I have come to beg 1.4 billion people to save my country,” he said. “Save my country from this dictatorship.”
Kejriwal also personally accused the prime minister of targeting his opponents with criminal probes. “Modi has started a very dangerous mission,” he said. “Modi will send all opposition leaders to jail.”
Kejriwal’s government was accused of corruption when it liberalised the sale of liquor in 2021 and gave up a lucrative government stake in the sector.
The policy was withdrawn the following year, but the resulting probe into the alleged corrupt allocation of licences has since led to the jailing of two top Kejriwal allies.
