The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) boycotted President Droupadi Murmu's address to the joint session of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
The address outlined the Narendra Modi government's agenda, but AAP protested against the continued incarceration of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.
Led by MPs Sanjay Singh and Sandeep Pathak, AAP members staged a protest against the government following Kejriwal's arrest by the CBI. Kejriwal's wife, Sunita Kejriwal, expressed her frustration, saying Till now the prayer has always been that God should give wisdom to everyone. But now the prayer will be that the dictator should be destroyed."
"AAP MPs protested in Parliament premises against the conspiracy of the Modi government to arrest the popular Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by misusing ED-CBI. The Constitution is supreme in this country and when dictatorship is done in the name of justice, it is necessary to raise voice," AAP said on X.
Pathak said that they boycotted the President's address due to the perceived misuse of justice. He added, "The President and the Constitution are supreme, and when dictatorship is done in the name of justice, it is important to raise our voices. We did not have a discussion with the remaining parties of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc regarding this, but our party boycotted the President's address."
Singh, whose suspension from the House was recently revoked, likened the recent events to a "dictatorship." He alleged that the government used the CBI to ensure Kejriwal remained in jail despite a local court granting him bail. He claimed that the ED obtained an interim stay without a copy of the local court's bail order, and when Kejriwal was about to get bail from the Supreme Court, the government intervened and used the CBI to arrest him.
"We boycotted the President's address. It is not her speech but one prepared by the government. She is reading out the government's speech as per procedure," Singh added.
