Kejriwal’s arrest: Has BJP over-reached or is it a decisive strike?

The Arvind Kejriwal arrest is different from the arrests of other Opposition leaders that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has made of late. Will its timing, coming less than a month before the general elections raises several issues.

The Narendra Modi government may hope to ride out whatever storm the ED’s custody of the Delhi Chief Minister in the excise policy scam may generate, with the AAP workers hitting the streets in protest. From the first murmurings from the ground, people, including even those who don’t particularly like Kejriwal or his politics, see it as “zyadati” (excessive). “Thora zyada hee ho raha hai, (It’s a little too much),” they say, with a tone of worry.

In its remand application, the ED has alleged payoffs for the Goa polls from a South group facilitated by Kejriwal, his office and his aides. Also, the fact that Central agencies are overwhelmingly knocking on Opposition doors has not exactly triggered outrage at the popular level even as it has united the Opposition leaders. The fact that all “targets” have corruption complaints is certainly one reason. But how will people react to putting a sitting CM in jail in the middle of polls and watch what should be a level-playing field become an uneven one – eliminating the Opposition figures to the advantage of the ruling party?

Elections remain the heartbeat of India’s democracy, howsoever flawed. And the aam aadmi and aurat still guard their unfettered right to vote as something precious – it enables them to change governments and it is the only time when they get a sense of power over their rulers.

The question being asked by many today is: Why is the BJP doing this – “Jeeti hui baazi kyon daav par laga rahi hai? (Why it is putting a winning game at