Kejriwal lashes out at Modi, accuses him of "torturing" AAP, its leaders

Arvind Kejriwal holds his first press conference in Delhi after walking out of Tihar jail, accuses Modi of "orchestrating a political conspiracy" against him and topple his government

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convener Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of "leaving no stone unturned in trying to crush his party and torture” AAP the way no other party or its leaders have been tortured in the last 75 years.

Addressing a press conference here, a day after he was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the liquor policy case, Kejriwal alleged that by imprisoning the party's top four leaders, Modi aims to dismantle AAP.

"They (BJP) incarcerated the top four AAP leaders in hopes of disintegrating the party. But AAP is more than just a political entity; it's an idea. The more they attempt to quash it, the more it will thrive. The PM seeks to suppress the Aam Aadmi Party," Kejriwal said.

“They (BJP) left no stone unturned in crushing the Aam Aadmi Party. We are a small party. In the last 75 years, no party or its leaders have been tortured the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tried to torture the Aam Aadmi Party,” Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal on why he didn’t resign as CM

The Delhi CM explained that he refused to resign from the post of the CM after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in order to save his government. 

“In the last 75 years, never in India's history has any state recorded a victory of such grandeur that Delhi did when AAP came to power. The BJP orchestrated a political conspiracy against Kejriwal, aiming to force my resignation and topple the government. I did not resign as the CM so that I can continue to fight against this dictatorial regime,” the Delhi CM said at the conference.

Modi attempting to eradicate all politicians: Kejriwal

The AAP chief also alleged that Modi’s tall claims of fighting corruption are lies.

“The country's biggest thieves, criminals, and scammers are in the BJP today, yet Modi claims he's fighting corruption. If he truly wants to combat corruption, he should take a lesson from Kejriwal,” he said.

Kejriwal said that by arresting him, “Modi sent a message to the nation- ‘If I can arrest Kejriwal, I can arrest anyone.’  This is a dangerous ‘one nation, one leader’ mission that the country needs to understand. Modi is attempting to eradicate all politicians. He'll incarcerate the opposition and ruin the careers of his own party members,” he said.

Kejriwal claimed that if the BJP wins the Lok Sabha elections, all Opposition leaders, including Mamata Banerjee, Tejashwi Yadav, Stalin and others will be jailed.

Kejriwal's prediction for Yogi Adityanath

He also claimed that the BJP will remove Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in the future as Modi wants to finish the careers of his own party members.

“They have destroyed the political careers of Vasundhara Raje, Manohar Lal Khattar, and Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Yogi Adityanath is next on their list of targets,” Kejriwal claimed.

“I cannot fight alone, I am begging 1.4 billion Indians to save India from this dictatorship,” he said, urging the public to extend support to the Opposition INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha polls.