Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal walked out of Tihar Jail on Friday evening, hours after he was granted bail in the corruption case lodged by the CBI in connection with the excise policy 'scam'.
Kejriwal left the jail premises amid heavy rain in the national capital. He was accompanied by his wife Sunita Kejriwal, and senior AAP leaders, including Manish Sisodia, Atishi, Sanjay Singh, Bhagwant Mann and others.
Standing through the sunroof of a car, the AAP chief then addressed party workers who gathered outside the Tihar Jail and chanted slogans of "Jail Ke Tale Toot Gaye, Kejriwalji Chhoot Gaye".
Beginning with slogans of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', 'Vande Mataram' and 'Inquilab Zindabad', Kejriwal thanked the people of Delhi for their blessings.
"Thank you all for waiting for me in the rain. They put me in jail, they thought putting Kejriwal behind bars would break his morale. Today, I want to tell you that I have come out of jail. My morale has been boosted 100 times. My strength has increased 100 times," the Chief Minister said.
"My life is dedicated to the country. Every moment of my life, every drop of blood is dedicated to the country. I have seen a lot of struggle in life, faced a lot of hardships, but God has supported me at every step because I was truthful and honest," he added.
The AAP chief also said that God supported him because he was honest and right.
"I have faced many difficulties in my life, but God has supported me at every step. This time, too, God supported me because I was honest," Kejriwal said.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan granted relief to Kejriwal, but barred him from visiting the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) or signing any official documents.
Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the excise policy case on March 21, was granted interim bail on May 10 by the Supreme Court for campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls and has been in jail since June 2 when he surrendered.
Meanwhile, the BJP, expressing its discontent with Kejriwal's bail, said that the Chief Minister should immediately resign from his post as the Supreme Court has granted him only conditional bail and that he continues to be an accused in the liquor policy case.
"The Supreme Court has shown a mirror to 'kattar beimaan' (outright dishonest) Arvind Kejriwal while granting bail to him. He should immediately resign after this," BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said.
Hitting out at the BJP, AAP demanded that the ruling party should apologise to the country for keeping a "staunchly honest" leader like Arvind Kejriwal in jail. The party also said that the Supreme Court order granting him bail in the excise policy case has exposed the BJP's "lies".
"It is not just the issue of bail granted to Kejriwal. The court has also given a big message to the BJP-led Centre to stop its dictatorship," senior AAP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.
