'I am begging you': Delhi CM Kejriwal issues rallying cry to India to 'save democracy'

Freshly out on bail Arvind Kejriwal, on Saturday, sought the 'help' of Indian citizens to fight against alleged dictatorship by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the country will remove any leader who shows dictatorial traits.

"Many leaders showed dictatorial traits in the past in India, but the people of India ripped their power away from them," Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal said. "Today another dictator seeks to end democracy in India. I am fighting against it, but I want the support of the 140 crore people of India. I cannot do it alone, I am begging you," he added.



Countering the Bharatiya Janata Party's question about the lack of a PM candidate from the INDIA bloc of parties, Kejriwal said that the saffron party has a retirement age of 75. PM Modi turns 75 next year.

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"They ask INDIA bloc who our leader will be., but I will ask BJP, who will be your next PM? PM Modi will turn 75 years old, in BJP they will retire anyone over 75," AAP's national convenor said.

"They did it to LK Advani, then to Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and other senior BJP leaders & Modi will be next. You aren't voting for Modi, but for Amit Shah," Kejriwal added.

Kejriwal speech

Kejriwal took on PM Modi who he said is claiming to "fight" corruption, "but all the thieves are in his party".

"You include all the thieves in your party and send Kejriwal to jail, this is not a fight against corruption... By arresting Kejriwal, they have given the message that if Kejriwal is arrested then they will arrest anyone. The name of this mission is 'One Nation One Leader...," the Delhi CM said.

"They will send opposition leaders to jail and will finish them (Nipta denge) ...Our ministers, Hemant Soren (former Jharkhand CM), ministers of Mamata Banerjee's party (Trinamool Congress) are in jail...If they (BJP) win again, then Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Uddhav Thackeray (UBT Chief) and other opposition leaders will all be in jail...," Kejriwal said.

"...No other party has been harassed to this extent in 75 years. The Prime Minister is saying that he is fighting corruption but all the thieves are in his party," he added.

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The AAP leader further claimed that following a chat with some psephologists and others, the BJP will not be able to cross 220-230 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

" I have a sense they wont come back to power on June 4. They are losing seats in Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Delhi, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal," Kejriwal said.

In contrast, the Modi-led BJP has a target of getting 400 seats through the NDA coalition.

Arvind Kejriwal bail

The Supreme Court on Friday pronounced its order granting interim bail to Kejriwal for 21 days till June 1. He has been asked to surrender on June 2, two days before official results of the LS polls are announced.

Kejriwal was lodged in the Tihar jail after he was accused of being the 'kingpin' of the now-defunct Delhi Excise Policy case by the Enforcement Directorate in its money laundering probe.

He was arrested on the night of March 21.

AAP is fighting on its own in all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. In Delhi, it is contesting on four out of the seven seats as part of a seat-sharing pact with its INDIA bloc partner Congress.