Modi eyes election victory as top opponent heads to jail
A top opponent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed yesterday to keep fighting “dictatorship” as he prepared to return to jail, following elections widely expected to produce another landslide victory for the Hindu-nationalist leader.
Arvind Kejriwal is among several opposition leaders under criminal investigation, with colleagues describing his arrest the month before the general elections began in April as a “political conspiracy” orchestrated by Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The chief minister of the capital Delhi and a key leader in an alliance formed to compete against Modi, Kejriwal was detained in March over a longrunning corruption probe. He was later released and allowed to campaign but ordered to return to jail once voting ended.
“When power becomes dictatorship, then jail becomes a responsibility,” said Kejriwal, who promised to continue “fighting” from behind bars.
“I don’t know when I will return,” he told supporters in an emotional departure speech at his Aam Aadmi party headquarters.
“I don’t know what they will do to me... every drop of my blood is for the country.”
Exit polls showed Modi was well on track to triumph, with the premier saying he was confident that “the people of India have voted in record numbers” to re-elect his government.
Results are expected tomorrow but supporters of Modi in his constituency of Varanasi – the spiritual capital of the Hindu faith – said they believed their leader's win was secure. (AFP)
“Every drop of my blood is for the country