OPINION | KEJRIWAL’S HEALTH SHOULD NOT BE MADE A POLITICAL ISSUE
Tihar jail counsel submitted a report in court which said Kejriwal’s blood sugar levels were completely normal. Meanwhile, Singhvi pleaded that Kejriwal was asking for only 15 minutes of daily video conferencing with his doctor and that he was not asking for medical bail or hospital treatment.
A Delhi court reserved its order till Monday on an application filed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for administering insulin to him in jail and for allowing him to consult his doctors daily through video-conferencing for 15 minutes in the presence of his wife. In his application, Kejriwal has said that he is suffering from acute diabetes and his blood sugar levels were fluctuating at an alarming rate, posing a risk to his health. Kejriwal’s senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, reading excerpts from the CM’s application, said, “In an attempt to pre-empt and cover-up the issue, jail authorities in collaboration with ED have sought to do media trial by alleging that sugar levels of the applicant are rising because of his diet.”
Singhvi claimed that in the 48 meals sent till now, mangoes were sent only thrice and no mango was sent after April 8. Singhvi described the ED counsel’s allegations as “petty, political and ridiculous”. Tihar jail counsel submitted a report in court which said Kejriwal’s blood sugar levels were completely normal. Singhvi pleaded that Kejriwal was asking for only 15 minutes of daily video conferencing with his doctor and that he was not asking for medical bail or hospital treatment. The court finally reserved its order till Monday.
A day earlier, ED had told the court that Kejriwal was eating foods high in sugar, like mangoes and sweets every day, despite suffering from Type 2 diabetes, “to create grounds for securing medical bail”. The ED counsel told the court that “Kejriwal was consciously consuming items like tea with sugar, mango, banana sweets, poori, aaloo sabzi, on a regular basis, despite being a patient of diabetes mellitus type 2, and knowing very well that consumption of such items results in the increase in blood sugar. This is being done to create a medical emergency to obtain sympathetic treatment from the court of law on medical grounds”.
AAP minister Atishi alleged at a press conference that a “conspiracy is being hatched to kill Arvind Kejriwal and he is not being given insulin despite repeated requests.” AAP MP Sanjay Singh alleged that “misleading” news about Kejriwal was being spread through the media, “a deep conspiracy is being hatched against the Delhi CM and anything can happen with him in prison.”
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva alleged that Kejriwal and his party are hatching a drama so that the chief minister could come out of jail on medical grounds. Personally, I do not like to publicly discuss any individual’s diet, because this is an exclusively personal matter. But it was blown up into a big issue when details of Kejriwal’s diet came in the public domain and the media had to share the same with the public. Arvind Kejriwal is a well-read person. He has been battling diabetes for the last 22 years, and he knows what to eat and what to avoid. One cannot believe the allegation that home-made food being sent to him in jail was deliberately meant to endanger his health. But looking at the facts placed by ED before the court, one can naturally question how a diabetic patient is consuming mangoes and sweets, which is not normal.
As far as AAP minister Atishi’s arguments are concerned, she claimed that the sweets were sugar-free. Even if one accepts this, how can one claim mangoes are sugar-free? Sadly, Atishi has connected this issue with politics. She said, the aloo-poori-sabzi was part of Navratri prasad and Kejriwal cannot be prevented by BJP leaders from following his faith. She has alleged that a plot is being hatched to kill him in jail. All such allegations can ultimately weaken Kejriwal’s case and give the BJP a handle to attack the AAP government. This is not a political issue. It is related to Kejriwal’s health. His health is the most essential issue. If Kejriwal needs doctors’ advice, he must be provided. But one must truthfully answer the question whether the diet consumed by Kejriwal was part of doctors’ advice, or the food items were deliberately given to him to raise his blood sugar levels.
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