Six months in jail hardened resolve to fight injustice, dictatorship: Sanjay Singh

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh on Thursday said the six months he spent in Tihar Jail boosted his morale and strengthened his resolve to raise his voice against "injustice and dictatorship".

Singh, who walked out of jail on Wednesday, told PTI that his jailed party colleagues — Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and former minister Satyendra Jain — will also be released soon.

Singh had been lodged in the high-security prison in the national capital since 13 October 2023. He was arrested on 4 October last year in connection with an excise policy-linked money laundering case, and was granted bail by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Kejriwal and Sisodia have also been arrested in the same case, while Jain is in jail in connection with a separate money laundering case. "We have always raised our voice against atrocities, injustice and dictatorship. Be it farmers' issues, price rise, Manipur violence or issues related to Delhi, we have always spoken about them and will continue doing so even after six months.

"I have got more strength and confidence from this battle and my morale is sky high. I got an opportunity to read in prison," he told PTI at the AAP office in Delhi.

Singh reiterated his party's stand about Kejriwal not resigning as chief minister. Earlier this month, Delhi lieutenant-governor V.K. Saxena had said the "government won't be run from jail" in the aftermath of Kejriwal's arrest.

Dismissing Saxena's assertion, the Rajya Sabha MP said, "Has Delhi LG chosen Kejriwal? Delhi's 2 crore people have chosen Kejriwal to give free education, free water, free bus rides, and employment for youth. CM Arvind Kejriwal is doing the best in the country. Should he resign because BJP is saying so?

"They will start a trend like this. They will arrest (Tamil Nadu CM M.K.) Stalin, (Telangana CM) Revanth Reddy, (Punjab CM) Bhagwant Mann and ask them to resign. Like this, no party (other than the BJP) will be left. What kind of a joke is this? File two false FIRs and ask them to resign," he said. If this trend starts, "there will be no democracy, no mandate of people", he said, and asked, "Will we work according to BJP?"

Labelling the BJP as 'Bangaru Janata Party', he said there is nothing to learn from it, in a reference to former BJP national president Bangaru Laxman, who was convicted in a corruption case. "We only have to fight them to save the country's democracy," he asserted.

On questions over the party's future, Singh said the BJP will not be successful if it thinks that it can stop Kejriwal from working for the people of Delhi by putting him in jail. "This country's dictatorial government will have to understand that AAP was born out of a movement. Arvind Kejriwal, Satyendar Jain, Manish Sisodia will soon get justice and come out of jail and will fight with more strength," he said.