Caste vote & save India from dictatorship: Kejriwal's wife

Ahmedabad: Sunita Kejriwal, wife of jailed Chief Minister of Delhi and Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, attended roadshows in Gujarat on Thursday, campaigning for AAP candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. She appealed to people to cast their vote to save the country from dictatorship, PTI reported.

People will respond to her husband's arrest in an alleged corruption case through the ballot box, she said, campaigning in Bharuch and Bhavnagar Lok Sabha constituencies.

"They have put Delhi Chief Minister and my husband, Arvind Kejriwal, in jail for the last 40 days. In Gujarat, they had put Chaitar Vasava and his wife in jail. No court has pronounced him (Kejriwal) guilty. They are saying the investigation is on; if the investigation continues for ten years, will they keep him in jail for ten years?" she said, speaking during the roadshow at Botad town in Bhavnagar constituency.

"Earlier, a person would be sent to jail if he was found guilty by a court. Now, they have started a new system, so long as the investigation continues, the case continues, and the person will be kept in jail. This is clear high-handedness, dictatorship," Sunita Kejriwal said.

Her husband is an IIT-educated man who had been a commissioner of Income Tax, but he left the job to serve society, she said.

During his anti-corruption agitations, he fasted for 12-15 days many times even though doctors had forbade him to fast because of diabetes, Sunita said, claiming that Kejriwal was not given insulin in the prison initially, due to which his sugar level went over 300. "After much difficulty he was given insulin by taking permission from the court," she said.

One can say that despotism in the country was reaching its peak, but Kejriwal was not someone who would bend easily, Sunita said.

"Kejriwal ji is a true son of India. Today, I, the daughter of Mother India, request you to save this country, which is heading towards dictatorship. Save this country, save democracy," she appealed.

AAP's Bharuch candidate Chaitar Vasava and Bhavnagar candidate Umesh Makwana accompanied her in their respective constituencies, while the party's Rajya Sabha member Sandeep Pathak was present in both roadshows.

Earlier, talking to reporters at the Ahmedabad airport, Sunita Kejriwal said people were smart and would respond through votes to her husband's imprisonment.

"They (BJP) have put Arvind Kejriwal behind bars during elections so that his voice can not reach the people. The people are very smart and will respond through their votes," she said.

Pathak targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remark that he will not allow reservations in the name of religion.

"Why he remembers all these things before the elections? Why don't you ask for votes on the strength of your work? I think the prime minister is the biggest friend of Pakistan," he said, adding that people have become mature and they seek schools, hospitals and better things in life.

Earlier in the day, addressing an election rally at Gujarat's Anand, Modi dubbed the Congress a "disciple" of Pakistan and said the neighbouring country was eager to make the 'shehzada' of the grand old party the next PM of India.

AAP has fielded candidates on two out of the state's 26 seats as part of the INDIA bloc's seat-sharing agreement.