Photo: Supporters Arvind Kejriwal protests against his arrest
Indian opposition parties showed unity by protesting the arrest of opposition leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal weeks before national elections, Reuters reports.
The opposition accuses Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party of seeking to rig the vote and persecuting opposition forces in the tax sphere.
"Narendra Modi is trying to make the elections negotiable"– said Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at a rally in New Delhi as the crowd chanted “Shame!” Kejriwal, a sharp critic of Modi, an anti-corruption activist and one of the leaders of the opposition bloc "INDIA", was arrested on March 21 on charges of bribery in the issuance of liquor licenses less than a month before voting begins in a general election that is expected to put Modi in charge of government for a third time.
Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party claims that the case is fabricated and politically motivated. The Modi government and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) deny political interference and say law enforcement agencies are only doing their job.
Modi claims to be fighting corruption, while the opposition wants to protect the corrupt.
"Major corrupt officials are behind bars, and even the Supreme Court is not releasing them", – he said on Sunday, March 31, at a rally in Uttar Pradesh state.
The Indian National Congress claims that in addition to arrests and raids by India's anti-financial crimes agency, it is facing "tax terrorism" due to large government tax demands and the freezing of some bank accounts.
Critics of the Modi government say the country's prime minister and his party are using investigative agencies and the tax service to target political opponents.
BJP denies this accusation.
Prepared by: Sergey Daga