AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday called his arrest a “crisis”, and attributed his release to “God’s grace”.
Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March in connection with the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. He got interim bail from the Supreme Court on Friday.
On Monday, Kejriwal held a meeting with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors, where he said his arrest “could have led to the disintegration of the party but the members remained solid”.
Praising his party members, Kejriwal said, “You have set an example in the country. People from all over the country are praising [you], saying that others [political bodies or individuals] break apart in a moment.”
He added, “Some people flipped just before the elections. However, ours neither got played by money nor feared ED. Nobody can break us.”
The Delhi CM said he “was mentally prepared to stay in jail for the next 6-7 months”. “I was not expecting to return [when I was arrested], but a miracle happened. When the Supreme Court gave the judgment on Friday, it felt like God had done some miracle.”
Quoting the Bhagavad Gita, Kejriwal said, “Lord Krishna has said that whenever there is a decline in righteousness and an increase in unrighteousness, I will appear.”
God, he added, “appears in several forms”.
“Either he takes forms such as Lord Ram or Lord Krishna, or appears as a situation. Such a situation is created that makes it look like everything is getting better.”
Attacking the BJP, he said, until 3-4 months ago, “people would have thought they (BJP) will easily cross 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections”.
In the present situation, he added, “people are betting if they will even get 250 seats” or not.
Kejriwal asked his party workers to “keep doing work and ensuring cleanliness”.
“People were supporting me. It is our work that has garnered us respect,” he said. “It is our work that makes BJP fear us.”