The United States, Germany and the United Nations have expressed concern after Indian police arrested Delhi’s chief minister on corruption charges just weeks ahead of national elections. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is accused of seeking to undermine opposition-led state governments in the run-up to the polls.
Arvind Kejriwal is the fourth leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP, Common Man’s Party) to be arrested on charges of taking bribes from businesses seeking permits to sell liquor in the city – but so far the police have not established a link to any purported crime.
Kejriwal claims it is a plot by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist BJP to dislodge AAP from Delhi state, where it has governed since 2013.
His 21 March arrest led to protests in Punjab state, also ruled by the AAP, and drew outcry from India's 27-party national opposition bloc, which accused the BJP of derailing opposition-led state governments in the run-up to the April-June general elections.
“The sole purpose of the arrest is to humiliate and incapacitate the AAP,” Kejriwal’s lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi told a court hearing.
State prosecutors, however, insisted they had proof to nail the key opposition leader.
Foreign reaction
The UN, US and Germany have demanded a fair and impartial trial for Kejriwal, who will be held behind bars until 15 April.
“We encourage fair, transparent, timely legal processes. We don’t think anyone should object to that,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, stressed that the case came at a sensitive time.
“What we very much hope that in India, as in any country that is having elections, that everyone's rights are protected, including political and civil rights, and everyone can vote in an atmosphere that is free and fair,” he told reporters.
Sebastian Fischer, a spokesperson for Germany’s foreign office, told a press conference: “We assume and expect that the standards relating to independence of judiciary and basic democratic principles will also be applied in this case.”
Government defiant
India’s foreign ministry rejected the Western concerns, saying in a statement: “India’s legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. Casting aspersions on that is unwarranted.”
New Delhi summoned the German embassy’s deputy chief of mission to protest his government’s remarks, the ministry said.
“We should not be interfering in each other’s internal affairs, we should not be passing comments about each others’ politics,” Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said at a recent BJP-sponsored event.
“We have told the diplomats of those countries clearly that we take very strong objection to it and we think it is not a good practice … There are certain etiquettes, there are certain conventions, certain practices to be followed in international relations.”
Bank accounts frozen
Financial investigators have opened probes into at least four other state chief ministers or their family members, all of them opponents of Modi.
Kejriwal’s arrest came as Indian revenue officials froze bank accounts of the main opposition Congress party and demanded nearly 400 million euros in arrears in a tax case pending since 2018.
“Our entire financial identity has been erased. We have no money to campaign... Our ability to fight elections has been damaged,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said.
Some 970 million people are eligible to vote for a new parliament in a staggered six-week ballot that starts on 19 April.
The BJP said this week it had invited 15 overseas political parties to tour India in May for a first-hand view of the vote.
