Tag: AAP sanjay singh

‘Pre-Planned Script, Completely Illegal’: AAP After MP Sanjay Singh’s Arrest

The Rajya Sabha MP was arrested on Wednesday evening following raids at his house by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the liquor policy case.

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has accused the BJP-led Union government of acting out a “pre-planned script” after Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was arrested on Wednesday (October 4) following raids at his house by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the liquor policy case.

Addressing a press conference after Singh’s arrest, AAP minister Atishi said that the ED waited for eight hours at Singh’s house before arresting him in the evening.

“ED reached Sanjay Singh’s house this morning and sat there for 8 hours. A house that has only 4 bedrooms would not have taken more than an hour to search. But they sat there for eight hours and then arrested him. This was a pre-planned script.”

In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), Delhi chief minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal said that Singh’s arrest was “completely illegal.”

“This shows Modi ji’s nervousness. They will arrest many more opposition leaders till the elections,” he wrote in Hindi.

Singh is the third AAP leader to be arrested in the liquor policy case. Last year Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was arrested and months before that, former Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain was also arrested in connection with the case.

Singh’s name was mentioned in the ED’s prosecution complaint filed last year in December, according to the Indian Express.

In a video statement that was recorded before his arrest, Singh said he had raised his voice against the Modi government, including allegations of stock market manipulations by the Adani Group.

“We are soldiers of the AAP. We want to tell Modi that my arrest shows the way in which the government wants to jail people in a dictatorial manner to win elections. I want to remind Modi, that whenever there is injustice, we will raise our voice. I will continue to raise my voice against corruption and Adani,” he said.

“In the last 15 months, the Union government and central agencies and scores of central officers have been engaged in finding evidence of corruption in this so-called liquor scam by the AAP. But after one year, despite several ED officers and teams being engaged in this case, they still haven’t found corruption worth even Rs 1 against AAP,” said Atishi.

“Sanjay Singh’s arrest has been done without any proof today. He was not arrested because there is some evidence or that there is a liquor policy scam or they have found evidence of corruption worth even Rs 1. The only reason he has been arrested is because the BJP and PM Modi are scared of those who raise their voice against them and are scared of AAP and Sanjay Singh. This fear of loss has resulted in this dictatorship.”

Delhi MLA and AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj – who was also present at the press conference – said that the actions of the BJP government over the past two days show that it knows that it is going to lose most of the five upcoming state elections (Telangana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram) later this year and the general elections scheduled for next year.

“In the five state elections that are coming up, BJP is losing most of them. Those (television) channels that help the BJP, even they have not been able to help the BJP much in their opinion polls. The situation on the ground is very bad. They are trying to give reservations to women, make the prices of cylinders cheaper,” he said.

“Yesterday, India’s brave journalists who pose questions to the government were raided and questioned throughout the day and attempts were made to label them anti-nationals. And today the strongest voice in India’s parliament, Sanjay Singh has been arrested without any evidence,” Bharadwaj said. 

He said that this proves that Prime Minister Modi is desperate. “In all dictatorships, we have seen that such activities are done when there is a fear of losing power. But no one has held on to power by doing such acts. After 2024, we will be proved right that such acts will not bring any results.”

Earlier in July, Singh was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the entire monsoon session.

Singh’s Rajya Sabha colleague RJD MP Manoj Jha said that the Modi government is trying to instill fear in the opposition. “In this age, those who are scared will die. (Jo dar gaya wo mar gaya). The dictator himself is scared. And the results will be visible soon,” he said.

The BJP on the other hand has said that Singh’s arrest is a result of AAP’s corruption.

“The people of Delhi know that Arvind Kejriwal and his leaders are guilty of liquor scam, now the truth is coming out,” said Virendraa Sachdeva, Delhi BJP chief in a video statement.

Watch | Will AAP Be Able to Form a Government in Punjab? A Conversation With Sanjay Singh

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh speaks with The Wire’s Arfa Khanum Sherwani about the party’s strategy in UP and Punjab.

Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7, while elections in Punjab will now be held on February 20. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state-in-charge for Uttar Pradesh and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh speaks with The Wire‘s Arfa Khanum Sherwani about the party’s strategy in these two states. Does he feel confident about the party’s ability to form a government in Punjab? What role can it play in UP? Watch the video to find out.

Supreme Court Offers Protection to AAP’s Sanjay Singh in ‘Hate Speech’ Cases

Singh has alleged that sole aim of the state government is to prevent him from campaigning in Uttar Pradesh and from carrying out political activities there in the run-up to the elections in 2022.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted protection from coercive action to Aam Aadmi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in alleged hate speech cases lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh.

The apex court made it clear however that UP police is not precluded from seeking sanction from Rajya Sabha Chairperson to prosecute Singh in the cases.

It also issued notice to the UP government and sought its response on Singh’s two pleas seeking clubbing and quashing of FIRs lodged against him after his press conference on August 12 last year, at which he alleged that the state government was favouring a certain class of society.

During the hearing, a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and R.S. Reddy told the counsels for Singh that he cannot divide the society along the lines of castes and religion.

Senior advocate Vivek Tankha and advocate Sumeer Sodhi, appearing for Singh, said that no procedures were followed by the police in lodging the case and sanction to prosecute the Rajya Sabha MP was not taken.

The bench said it will not get into the sanction aspect at this moment but it does not mean that no offence has been made out against Singh.

It told Tankha that the court understands that sanction to prosecute under section 197 CrPC ought to have been taken from the chairperson of Rajya Sabha.

On February 2, the top court had refused to grant protection to Singh against whom a non-bailable warrant (NBW) has been issued on an FIR lodged in Lucknow.

The AAP leader has moved the apex court seeking quashing of multiple FIRs lodged against him in various districts of Uttar Pradesh after the press conference, saying they have been maliciously instituted to unleash political vendetta.

In a separate petition, Singh has also challenged the January 21 order of the Allahabad high court which refused to quash the FIR in Lucknow.

In one of his pleas filed in the apex court seeking quashing of multiple FIRs, Singh stated, “In the said press conference, the petitioner (Singh) had merely raised certain social issues, namely neglect and apathy of the government towards a certain class of society.”

He alleged that after the press conference, multiple FIRs were registered against him at the instance of BJP’s members at various police stations in different districts of the state.

Singh said they are manifestly attended with mala fides and have been maliciously instituted to unleash political vendetta against the petitioner and to harass him.

“The said FIRs have been filed against the petitioner out of the malice and sheer political vendetta with intent to coerce, harass and intimidate the petitioner as a part of a larger ploy to muzzle the opposition leaders, from speaking up against the government of Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

Singh further alleged that content in the FIRs is same verbatim and they have been filed across several districts across more than 700 kilometres in Uttar Pradesh on the same day within a span of a few hours.

He said at present he is aware of only eight FIRs lodged in eight districts including at Lucknow, Sant Kabir Nagar, Khiri, Bagpat, Muzaffarnagar, Basti and at Aligarh against him.

He has contended that these FIRs are a threat to his exercise of the right to free speech, right to assemble peacefully; right to move freely throughout the territory of India which are guaranteed under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution.

“The press conference was an exercise through which the petitioner was raising pertinent social and political issues, and the said FIRs have been filed with the sole intention to stifle the voice of opposition which is fundamental to a functional democracy,” he said, adding that these FIRs filed against him are “frivolous, baseless, vexatious and are figments of imagination of the complainant and the police department”.

He has alleged that sole aim of the state machinery is to prevent him from campaigning in Uttar Pradesh and from carrying out political activities there in the run-up to the elections in 2022.

“The state machinery in complete derogation of their duties and responsibilities conferred upon it by law have been involved in mounting undue pressure upon the petitioner by threatening to take coercive action against the petitioner in order to make him succumb to their unbridled envy.

“In light of the aforesaid, the petitioner prays that the aforesaid FIRs registered against him be quashed as they are nothing but an abuse of process aimed at stifling the voice of opposition in a democracy and the petitioner’s fundamental rights,” he has claimed.

Alternatively, he has sought transfer of the FIRs lodged in connection with the press conference of August 12, 2020, and related political activities of the petitioner outside of Uttar Pradesh.