‘Compare Arvind Kejriwal to Nader Shah’: BJP’s jibe over ‘freedom fighter’ remark.

BJP leader Virendra Sachdeva said Gahlot’s comparison of Kejriwal with freedom fighters was shameful. Reacting to AAP leader Kailash Gahlot’s remark that Arvind Kejriwal was the modern day freedom fighter, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said it would be apt to compare him with Nader Shah. Nader Shah was a Persian ruler who invaded medieval Delhi and killed thousands of the city’s residents. Sachdeva said Gahlot’s speech on the occasion of Independence Day was completely political and thus an insult to democracy and the Constitution. “It would have been more appropriate to compare Arvind Kejriwal to Nader Shah. The way Kailash Gahlot mentioned the names of Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia and praised them, it seemed as if he was not addressing the Delhi government’s ceremony but addressing party workers from the Aam Aadmi Party’s platform,” he said. “Whether it was his mention of old electricity and water schemes in the Independence Day speech or the use of language like forces against the nation trying to stop Kejriwal, everything seemed like political propaganda. Listening to Gahlot’s political speech, it seemed that he wanted to prove himself a bigger anarchist politician than Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and Atishi,” he added. He said Gahlot’s comparison of Kejriwal with freedom fighters was shameful. “It would not be an exaggeration to say that by politicising the Independence Day address, Kailash Gahlot insulted democracy and the constitution, and the people of Delhi will never forgive him,” he said. What did Kailash Gahlot say? On Independence Day, he said Arvind Kejriwal was a modern day freedom fighter. Arvind Kejriwal has been in jail since March 11 in corruption and money laundering cases linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy. Kejriwal’s deputy Manish Sisodia recently came out of jail after being incarcerated since February 2023. Earlier in the day, Gahlot said, “My feelings are connected to this day in two ways. So many of our brave sons risked their lives to get us freedom. But the mind is saddened that today the democratically elected CM is behind bars and I have to be present in his place. Arvind Kejriwal is a modern freedom fighter.”