Sunday, February 26th, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after an eight-hour-long interrogation on the now-scrapped excise policy case. After his arrest, his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers have announced to observe Monday, February 27th, as a “black day”.
The AAP workers’ protest in Delhi, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka is ongoing. The opposition parties together took to social media to decry Manish Sisodia’s arrest and allege that the move is a politically motivated one to suppress the Opposition.
They blamed India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for the arrest. The BJP has ruled out any foul play. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said that the CBI officials are working as per evidence and sans emotions.
Sitaram Yechury, the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)], labelled the arrest of Sisodia as “utterly reprehensible”.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that common people would give a befitting reply to such politics of vendetta.
Sanjay Raut, the spokesperson of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), warned the BJP of the probable impending backlash against such politics of vendetta.
Derek O’Brien, the national spokesperson of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), criticised the BJP’s alleged intent of suppressing the Opposition, and misusing the power of federal agencies. He also expressed his support for Manish Sisodia.
Neeraj Kumar, a leader of Janata Dal (United), a former ally of the BJP, also criticised the arrest of Manish Sisodia in an interview with the PTI.
Besides, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and Assam politician Akhil Gogoi expressed their concern over Manish Sisodia’s arrest as well as the alleged attempt to gag the Opposition.
