New Delhi: Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) could arrest his body but not his thoughts.
Kejriwal, who is the AAP's national convener, did not appear before the ED for questioning in the Delhi excise policy-linked case earlier in the day.
Defying the summons, Kejriwal took part in a roadshow for the party's Singrauli city candidate in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls. He was accompanied by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann.
In a post on platform X, Kejriwal said, "Today, we witnessed tremendous support from the people in Singrauli. The enthusiasm among the people was remarkable. The more these people try to crush the Aam Aadmi Party, the stronger the public's resolve will become.
These people are threatening to arrest Kejriwal. I want to tell them - you may arrest Kejriwal's body, but how will you arrest his thoughts?"
He and Mann took part in a roadshow for the party candidate from Singrauli and AAP's state president Rani Agrawal. She is also the mayor of Singrauli city, a major electricity generation hub.
While addressing the rally in Singrauli, Kejriwal said that he was not sure whether he would be in jail or out by the time the election results will be announced.
"Just like the people of Delhi and Punjab did charisma, the people of Madhya Pradesh will do charisma in the coming days... I don't know whether I will be in jail or somewhere else on the day of counting, but everyone should say that Arvind Kejriwal came to Singrauli and we gave him a historic victory," he said.
"You will arrest Kejriwal, but how will you arrest thousands, lakhs and crores of Kejriwals spread across the entire country," asked the Delhi CM who reminded the gathering that his party was born out of the anti-corruption movement of activist Anna Hazare.