 "This Week in Explainers: How Arvind Kejriwal finally got bail after many rejections")
It was a politically charged week in India. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal walked out of jail after getting bail from the Supreme Court in a corruption case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the now-scrapped excise policy case.
It was a sombre moment for Indian politics as Left stalwart Sitaram Yechury passed away at the age of 72 after battling a severe lung infection.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s trip to the United States, his first foreign visit after becoming the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, sparked controversy back home. From his remarks on different issues to his meeting with a controversial US lawmaker , Gandhi’s visit gave ammunition to the BJP.
Here’s all this and more in our weekly roundup of stories from India.
1. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is a free man. After spending six months in jail – with a brief reprieve in between, the AAP chief was released from Tihar jail after securing bail from the Supreme Court. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan granted relief to Kejriwal on certain conditions, a bail bond of Rs 10 lakh, and two sureties.
जिसके ऐसे साथी हों, उसका कोई तानाशाह कुछ नहीं बिगाड़ सकता❤️🙌
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) September 13, 2024
संविधान की ताक़त से जेल की सलाखों को पिघलाकर अपने आवास पहुंचे मुख्यमंत्री अरविंद केजरीवाल जी का गर्मजोशी से AAP नेताओं ने किया स्वागत।#केजरीवाल_आ_गये pic.twitter.com/5T8A8iAZuD
The AAP chief got bail thrice in the liquor policy case before and once he even walked out of jail for campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections. His bail in the CBI case is a shot in the arm for the party ahead of the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls. Kejriwal was first arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the excise policy case on March 21. He was sent to judicial custody in Tihar jail on April 1. Here’s our story on Kejriwal’s entire bail saga.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts2. Sitaram Yechury, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary, breathed his last this week. His party described his sudden demise as a “grievous loss for the Left, democratic and secular forces”. Yechury helped shape India’s Communist movement.
A Marxist, he was an advocate of coalition politics. Yechury, who once defied Indira Gandhi, grew close to Sonia and Rahul over the years. While paying tributes to the veteran politician, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha remembered Yechury as a “friend”. Read our explainer on Yechury’s political journey.
3. Congress’ Rahul Gandhi came under fire over his remarks in the US, with the BJP accusing him of “insulting” India. Speaking about religious freedom in the South Asian country, Gandhi said during an interaction with a member of the Indian community in Virginia, “The fight is about whether…he as a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear his turban in India. Or he as a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear a kada in India. Or a Sikh is going to be able to go to Gurdwara. That’s what the fight is about and not just for him, for all religions.”
His statements on reservations in India, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and unemployment also drew the BJP’s ire. However, this is not the first time that Gandhi has created a political storm during his foreign trips. Here’s our report on how Rahul Gandhi has faced flak over his utterances abroad.
4. Elections on all 90 Assembly seats of Jammu and Kashmir will be held in the coming days. These polls are significant as Assembly elections are being held in J&K after a decade, and five years after Article 370 was abrogated. These are the first elections after J&K’s statehood was withdrawn and it was split into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
The BJP is eyeing to come to power in the UT. However, it has decided to contest only 19 of the 47 Assembly seats in the Kashmir Valley. This comes after the saffron party did not field a candidate on a single Lok Sabha seat in the Valley. But why is the BJP not contesting all seats in Kashmir? What are the challenges and advantages for the party? Read our story to find out.
5. Sexual harassment in the Indian armed forces is a haunting reality. A new case came to light this week after a Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force (IAF) was accused of rape by a woman flying officer in J&K. The woman officer has reportedly alleged authorities at the Srinagar’s Air Force Station – where both are posted – subjected her to “continuous harassment, sexual assault, and mental torture” over the last two years.
This is not a standalone case. The menace of sexual harassment continues to plague armed forces across the world. It is a big problem in India, too. Here’s our story on the prevalence of sexual abuse in the Indian armed forces.
6. Another young life was lost to a heart-related condition in India. Indian TV actor Vikas Sethi died from a massive cardiac arrest at the age of 48. His wife, Jhanvi, told the media that the couple were in Maharashtra’s Nashik for a family event when the actor suddenly complained of nausea and stomach upset. “After we reached my mother’s house in Nashik, he had vomiting and loose motions. He didn’t want to go to the hospital, so we asked the doctor to come home. When I went to wake him up around 6 am (on Sunday), he was no more. The doctor there told us he passed away last night in his sleep due to a cardiac arrest,” she reportedly said.
Before Vikas, TV actor Sidharth Shukla died of a heart attack. Bollywood actor Shreyas Talpade also suffered a heart attack and underwent underwent angioplasty last year. It is not just these three who witnessed a heart-related ailment.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), namely heart attacks and cardiac arrests, have increased in India from 25.7 million cases in 1990 to 64 million in 2023. But why are heart attacks among the young rising? We explain in this report.
You are all caught up for this week. If you like reading our explainers, you can bookmark this page to stay updated.
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