Shashi Tharoor, MP, leads a march taken out by the Congress to Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram on March 22, 2024 in protest in opposition to the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
| Photograph Credit score: S. Mahinsha

The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) dramatic arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal late on March 21 has galvanised the ruling entrance and the Opposition in Kerala into taking to the streets on March 22 (Friday) morning in protest in opposition to what the rival fronts view as “an egregious and unprecedented assault on Indian democracy and federalism.”

The leaders of the rival alliances additionally portrayed Mr. Kejriwal’s arrest forward of the Lok Sabha elections as “an ominous, dead-of-the-night knock on democracy’s door” that portended badly for the nation’s polity.

CPI(M) burns PM in effigy

In Kannur, Communist Celebration of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] activists burned Prime Minister Narendra Modi in effigy.

CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan, who led the protesters, mentioned Mr. Kejriwal’s arrest “foretold a backsliding into the darkish days of the Emergency.”

Mr. Govindan famous that the nation’s citizens would brush apart “the darkish clouds of authoritarianism” threatening democracy. “Mr. Kejriwal will emerge stronger from the jail,” he mentioned.

Tharoor leads Congress Raj Bhavan march

In Thiruvananthapuram, Congress Working Committee member and the celebration’s Lok Sabha candidate from Thiruvananthapuram constituency, Shashi Tharoor, MP, led a protest march to Raj Bhavan to highlight the “assault on democracy”.

He mentioned the rival fronts in Kerala had been “united of their opposition” to the BJP’s brazen try to make use of Constitutional companies to tilt the electoral discipline in favour of the Sangh Parivar-controlled Central authorities by arresting leaders and squeezing Opposition events’ marketing campaign funds.

Mr. Tharoor mentioned the I-T division and the ED had frozen the Congress’s election treasure chest “at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s occasion.”

He identified that the ED had arrested Mr. Kejriwal when the mannequin code of conduct was in power. Mr. Tharoor mentioned he had appealed to the Supreme Courtroom to take suo motu cognisance of “the assault on democracy.”

Stifling dissent: Sudhakaran

In Kannur, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Okay. Sudhakaran accused the BJP of “subverting” the ED, CBI and I-T division to “goal political rivals and stifle dissent” by arresting Mr. Kejriwal.

Nonetheless, Mr. Sudhakaran appeared to place a rider to the assertion. He queried why the ED had taken no related motion in opposition to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan regardless of sure severe expenses in opposition to the latter. Mr. Sudhakaran mentioned the CPI(M) and the BJP “are political bedfellows in Kerala.”

BJP’s tackle Kejriwal’s arrest

In Thiruvananthapuram, BJP State president Okay. Surendran requested whether or not the Congress would cry foul if the ED arrested Mr. Vijayan.

He mentioned the Chief Minister and his household had been dealing with severe corruption expenses. “The Congress has highlighted the accusations on the hustings. Nonetheless, the Central authorities’s anti-corruption drive has corralled the corrupt Congress and CPI(M) in a single enclosure,” he mentioned.

Mr. Surendran alleged that the Congress had aided Mr. Vijayan in evading discomfiting questions on graft within the Kerala Legislative Meeting. “Nonetheless, exterior the Meeting, the Congress has been hankering for Central investigations in opposition to Mr. Vijayan and his household,” he mentioned.

Mr. Surendran claimed that the INDIA bloc allies had been “imaginary foes” in Kerala. He mentioned the BJP was the one bonafide Opposition within the State.

“The folks will leap on the Modi improvement and welfare bandwagon to finish Congress-CPI(M) revolving door politics within the State,” he mentioned.

(with inputs from Kannur Bureau)