As the AAP protests, party workers are detained by the police, and opposition parties strongly condemn the center: Sanjay Singh Arrest

On Thursday, numerous Aam Admi Party (AAP) members protested the arrest of Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in connection with the contentious excise policy issue in central Delhi and were held by Delhi Police. According to media reports, a number of party members gathered at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) headquarters on DDU Marg on Thursday and sang anti-Centre chants while calling for Singh’s release.

Several Aam Admi Party members were arrested yesterday when they demonstrated in Lucknow against the ED raid at Sanjay Singh’s house.

The party claims that Singh was detained by the deferred investigation organization Enforcement Directorate for bringing up concerns about the Adani Group in Parliament.

Singh was taken into custody on Wednesday in relation to a case involving suspected corruption in the 2021–22 Delhi Excise policy.

Supremo Kejriwal of AAP’s reaction
Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi and head of the AAP, stated on Wednesday that the BJP’s anger at the opposition INDIA coalition is what led to the detention of AAP leader Sanjay Singh by the Centre.

“We are all aware of how difficult the road to honesty is. All of our issues will be solved if we start acting dishonestly like them. These issues are developing because we are blatantly honest, according to Kejriwal.

“Their greatest pet peeve is that they are completely corrupt and cannot compete with our honesty. By claiming that Kejriwal was engaged in a bus fraud, an energy scam, or a water scam, they sometimes sought to discredit us. They looked over my seven prior births, he said.

In an attack on the BJP-led federal government, Kejriwal said that despite more than 1,000 searches being conducted as part of the probe into the excise policy issue, not a single penny of illicit money has been discovered.

“They detained Sanjay Singh, a vocal opponent of Modiji’s corruption. Narendra Modi, the prime minister, is corrupt from head to toe. According to me, he is the most dishonest prime minister India has ever had,” Kejriwal said.

“Their corruption will surface when their administration is no longer in power in the future. The loudest voice against this corruption, he said, is Sanjay Singh.

Reaction of the opposition: Who said what?
On Thursday, opposition parties sharply denounced the Centre’s harsh action of detaining MP Sanjay Singh in connection with the matter involving the abandoned Delhi tax scheme.

Digvijaya Singh, a leader in the Congress, criticized the Center for the detention of Singh and said that the BJP was using the Enforcement Directorate as a political tool against the opposition.

They have turned ED into a political tool. Sanjay Singh has been imprisoned in order to quiet his voice because of how passionately he talks in the Rajya Sabha. This is a deliberate attempt to quiet the voice of a capable and rising leader, according to Digvijaya Singh.

The BJP leaders are alarmed and troubled, according to Tejashwi Yadav, the deputy chief minister of Bihar, and “they will take similar action here (in Bihar) as well.”

In response to Singh’s detention, he remarked, “Wherever the regional party is performing well, they are harassing the governments there.”

Leaders of the opposition are under constant pressure. Sanjay Singh is a vocal member of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, and this arrest is an effort to quiet him, according to KC Tyagi, a spokesman for the Janata Dal (United).

The arrest of Sanjay Singh, according to RJD leader Manoj Kumar Jha, is not the issue; rather, it is the freedom of opinion.

“Yesterday, it was ‘NewsClick’ and the associated journalists. It’s Sanjay Singh right now. Just consider some historical occurrences, such as the publication of the Bihar Caste Census report. The party (BJP) is illiterate, therefore they have to manipulate headlines and intimidate opposition figures, according to Jha.

Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said that the Modi administration must fall for the sake of the “India that is Bharat.”

“Strongly oppose Sanjay Singh’s arrest, which was outrageous. Yechury said in a post on X that the ED under Modi habitually detains political opponents for ‘non-cooperation’ because they reject their bogus claims.

Modi government must be removed “for the sake of India that is Bharat,” he said.

The Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi-based businessman Dinesh Arora met at Arvind Kejriwal’s home earlier this year, according to allegations made against AAP MP Sanjay Singh in the ED’s chargesheet. Sanjay Singh was also present.

Arora said in his testimony to the ED that he had met Sanjay Singh at an event and that this had led to him getting in contact with the former deputy chief minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia.

According to sources, the gathering was planned to generate money ahead of the Delhi elections.

The ED chargesheet states that Dinesh Arora first met Sanjay Singh at a function at his own restaurant, Unplugged Courtyard, via whom he then connected with Manish Sisodia. In response to Sanjay Singh’s request, he got in touch with a lot of restaurant owners and set up checks totaling Rs 32 lakh, which he then sent to Sisodia to collect party finances for the impending Delhi elections.

Sanjay Singh allegedly took care of one of Dinesh Arora’s long-standing difficulties with the liquor department, according to the financial investigation agency.

Alcohol policy case
After Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena suggested a CBI investigation for potential corruption, the alcohol policy was abandoned.

According to claims made by the ED and the CBI, the Delhi government’s 2021–22 liquor policy encouraged cartelization and favored certain dealers who paid bribes to get licenses.