“Kejriwal was Taking Insulin Daily,” Sunita Kejriwal Refutes Tihar Jail Authority’s Claim
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 21: Amidst two empty chairs on the dais meant for the two jailed chief ministers, Sunita Kejriwal on Sunday gave a lie to the claims of the Tihar jail authorities that the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had stopped taking insulin months before his arrest in March and was on oral medicine for his diabetes.
Addressing the mega opposition INDIA bloc rally at the Jharkhand state capital city of Ranchi, Mr Kejriwal’s wife said the Delhi chief minister had been a diabetes patient and taking 50 units of insulin every day for the last 12 years.
“He is a sugar patient and he has been taking 50 units of insulin every day for the last 12 years. But he is not being given insulin in jail. They want to kill the Delhi Chief Minister. They cannot understand Arvind Kejriwal’s thoughts. He is very brave. He is a lion. He is worried about ‘Bharat Mata’ even in jail,” she said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has claimed that Arvind Kejriwal’s blood sugar level has reached 300 and Tihar jail authorities are not giving him insulin. Kejriwal, who has Type-2 diabetes, was arrested by the ED on March 21 and will remain in jail till April 23, when the next hearing will take place.
The Tihar jail authorities, however, had in a report to the Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had claimed that Mr Kejriwal himself had told the jail doctors that he had stopped taking insulin months before his arrest and was on oral medicine. The jail authorities had also claimed that a diabetes specialist at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi after 40 minutes of video consultation found no need for administering insulin and that his sugar level was in check.
The two empty chairs — one each for Mr Kejriwal and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren — were kept on stage as the INDIA bloc organised the mega rally as a show of strength of the opposition INDIA bloc. The ‘Ulgulan Nyay Mahrally’ was organised mainly by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and a large number of its workers wore Hemant Soren masks
Mr Soren was arrested on night of January 31 by the ED in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land fraud. Though chairs for the JMM executive president and AAP supremo were kept empty, their wives Kalpana Soren and Sunita Kejriwal were seated on the dais. They are apparently set for their larger political role following the arrest of their spouses.
The crowd raised slogans like “Jail ka tala tutega, Hemant Soren chutega” (The jail lock will be broken, Hemant Soren will be released) and “Jharkhand Jhukega Nahi” (Jharkhand will not bow down).” The workers assembled for the ‘Ulgulan Nyay Mahrally’ braving scorching heat as the Jharkhand capital’s temperature was hovering around 40° Celcius.
Besides Ms Kalpana and Ms Sunita, JMM supremo Shibu Soren, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, RJD leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and others attended the rally.
Claiming of a “conspiracy” to kill Mr Kejriwal in jail, Ms Sunita Kejriwal said every meal of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief was being monitored by the authorities. “Cameras are installed on his meals. Every bite he takes is being monitored. This is so shameful. He is a sugar patient and is taking insulin for 12 years, but he is being denied insulin in jail. They want to kill the Chief Minister of Delhi.”
She also called the incumbent regime a ‘dictator’ for putting the Delhi Chief Minister and his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren in jail without them having proven guilty. “They have put Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren in jail. They’ve put them in jail without them being proven guilty. This is a dictatorship. What is my husband’s fault? Is it providing good education, health facilities?” she asked.
She also said Arvind Kejriwal had put his life at stake for the people of Delhi. “He is an IITan, he could have gone abroad, but he prioritises patriotism. As IRS, he took leave to do public service. He has put his life at stake for people,” she said.
