Guwahati, Mar 21 (PTI) Opposition parties in Assam have termed the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a "barbaric act" of the BJP and a "murder of democracy" and asserted that the people of India will give a befitting reply to the saffron party in the Lok Sabha polls.

Kejriwal, 55, was arrested by the ED on Thursday night in an excise policy-linked money laundering case hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant protection to the AAP national convenor from any coercive action by the agency.

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Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi in a series of posts on X slammed the arrest by the central agency and termed it an action of the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

"I condemn the arrest of my friend and Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal by the ED. This is a barbaric act of the BJP to silence the voices of the opposition when the LS elections are on the anvil," he added.

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Gogoi, a former RTI activist having a close association with Kejriwal, appealed to all the opposition forces in the country to unite and voice their support in favour of the Delhi chief minister to "save democracy".

"The dictatorial BJP government deploys the de-facto non-autonomous institution to dominate the opposition forces. The fascist BJP dislikes the notion of opposition in the country, hence, they want to cripple the voices of opposition and destroy democracy," he added.

Assam TMC president Ripun Bora said the arrest of Kejriwal just before the general elections is completely "politically motivated" and a "murder of democracy".

"I strongly condemn this act of BJP Govt. BJP is scared of INDIA Alliance, soon people of India will give a befitting reply to BJP in LS poll. #IStandWithKejriwal," he said in a post on X.

AAP Assam chief Bhaben Choudhury said Prime Minister Narendra Modi must be "very scared" of Arvind Kejriwal and that is why he has been arrested at night.

"It is ample clear that BJP wants to stop Kejriwal from campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls. This also proves that AAP is becoming a serious threat to BJP. Now, AAP will work with double energy and enthusiasm. We will have Kejriwals in every state, district and constituency," he added.

Choudhury asserted that the BJP has committed a big blunder by arresting the AAP leader and the people will give a befitting reply to them. PTI TR

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)