Support pours in for arrested Delhi CM as #IStandWithKejriwal trends

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and MLAs on Friday launched the hashtag campaign #IStandWithKejriwal and #IndiaWithKejriwal on social media platform X to garner support for Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an excise policy-linked money laundering case.

AAP's allies in the INDIA bloc have also extended support to the party's national convener and condemned his arrest.

Hashtags such as #DeshKejriwalKeSathHai and #ArvindKejriwalArrested are among the top five trends in India on X so far. Several AAP leaders, including Saurabh Bharadwaj, Kailash Gahlot, Durgesh Pathak, Shelly Oberoi, Jasmine Shah, and Sanjeev Jha used the hashtags #IStandWithKejriwal and #IndiaWithKejriwal in their posts on X.

Delhi health minister Bharadwaj, who was detained by the police, posted a video on X from Alipur police station of him and several other AAP workers singing the popular patriotic song Mera rang de basanti chola.

In a separate post, he wrote "the prison of any dictator is not strong enough to imprison democracy for long", sharing a poster bearing the 'IStandWithKejriwal' hashtag.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh's wife Anit Singh also posted on social media, using her husband's X handle and extended her support to Kejriwal. "Now the only hope is from the people of the country, the dictatorial government of BJP has to be removed and the democracy of the country has to be saved," she wrote. Singh is lodged in Tihar jail in the same case in which Kejriwal was arrested on Thursday.

Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot shared a poster of Kejriwal with a tagline 'India with Kejriwal'.

"The entire country stands with Delhi's son. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, voices are being raised in support of Kejriwal. The people of the country will not let the staunch patriot who changed the politics of the country be left alone," he wrote.

Comparing him with Bhagat Singh, AAP's Lok Sabha candidate from West Delhi Mahabal Mishra wrote, "For every Bhagat Singh, there were millions of Bhagat Singhs on the streets. Similarly, for every Kejriwal, there will be millions of Kejriwals coming out to uproot Modi's tyranny."

The party's Lok Sabha candidate from the New Delhi constituency, Somnath Bharti, called for a united struggle against the party leader's arrest, while also targeting the BJP over the electoral bond scheme.

"As electoral bond revelations threaten their corruption empire, they unleash vendetta on Arvind Kejriwal. Democracy is in peril today. We all must stand strong, tall and united today to fight for true democracy and fair elections," he wrote.

Prominent leaders like the Congress' Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the TMC's Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin, the CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury, and several other leaders posted on social media in support of Kejriwal.