Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at opposition arrests ahead of India’s general election, the United Nations’ failed Israel-Hamas cease-fire vote, a potential terrorist attack in Russia, and Senegal electing a new president.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at opposition arrests ahead of India’s general election, the United Nations’ failed Israel-Hamas cease-fire vote, a potential terrorist attack in Russia, and Senegal electing a new president.
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Corruption Allegations in New Delhi
India’s federal investigative agency arrested opposition leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday for suspected financial crimes. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of accepting 1 billion rupees (or $12 million) in bribes from liquor contractors after New Delhi implemented a new liquor law in 2022 that ended government control over alcohol sales in the capital. The policy has since been scrapped.
The AAP claims there is no evidence of wrongdoing, arguing that the allegations are part of a BJP-led effort to weaken the opposition before general elections begin on April 19. The BJP controls the government that oversees the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which arrested Kejriwal. “This is dictatorship. All this is done to win the national polls,” said Delhi Health Minister and AAP member Saurabh Bharadwaj.
Kejriwal has ignored nine ED summonses thus far, saying he feared he would be arrested if he appeared for questioning. He denounced the agency’s charges as “generic” and “illegal,” and he sought legal protection from arrest. Last year, federal authorities arrested Kejriwal’s deputy, Manish Sisodia, and AAP lawmaker Sanjay Singh on charges related to the same case. With Kejriwal’s arrest, the AAP’s top leaders are now behind bars.
The BJP continues to deny any political interference. But India’s 27-party opposition alliance, which the AAP is part of, has accused the BJP and its leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of using graft allegations against major opponents such as Kejriwal as part of a political smear campaign.
“The arrest of elected chief ministers has become a common thing,” opposition Indian National Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Money-laundering allegations have targeted the chief ministers of at least three southern Indian states, and the BJP froze the Congress party’s bank accounts on Thursday as part of an alleged tax dispute.
Many of the BJP’s actions, including “the selective use of the Enforcement Directorate to target the Opposition and protect its own,” are designed to “consolidate a pervasive culture of fear,” Indian political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta wrote. Still, Mehta added, Kejriwal’s arrest was “an unprecedented display of impunity.”
Kejriwal was placed in custody on Friday until March 28. Hundreds of AAP supporters clashed with police across the country to protest his arrest, and authorities detained dozens of party members in New Delhi. Kejriwal’s lawyers said they plan to fight the allegations in city court before they potentially petition India’s Supreme Court.
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Failed U.N. vote. Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution on Friday that expressed support for an “immediate and sustained cease-fire” in Gaza alongside “the release of all remaining hostages” and the delivery of more humanitarian aid. Algeria also voted against the measure, and Guyana abstained. This was the fourth failed U.N. resolution demanding a halt in fighting between Israel and Hamas since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023. Washington vetoed the first three resolutions.
Russia and China cited the resolution’s ambiguous language as a reason for their veto. Rather than explicitly “calling for” or “demanding” a cease-fire, as past resolutions have, the U.S.-drafted text said the Security Council “determines the imperative of an immediate and sustained cease-fire.” Russia’s ambassador to the U.N. denounced the resolution as an “empty rhetorical exercise” written to favor U.S. political interests and “ensure the impunity of Israel,” while China’s U.N. ambassador accused the United States of having “played a game of words while being ambiguous and evasive on critical issues.”
Moscow and Beijing “simply did not want to vote for a resolution that was penned by the United States, because it would rather see us fail than to see this council succeed,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
On Saturday, the Security Council’s 10 nonpermanent members plan to present their own cease-fire resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on March 10, as well as the “immediate and unconditional” release of all hostages. Washington said it may veto the text.
Possible terrorist attack. At least three people in combat fatigues fired shots at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow on Friday, Russian state media reported. Videos posted online show the concert venue engulfed in flames. At least 40 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the attack, according to federal authorities, who are investigating the incident as a terrorist attack. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. This is a “great tragedy,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
On March 7, the U.S. Embassy in Russia told U.S. citizens to avoid large crowds, including concerts, for the next 48 hours, warning that “extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow.” Washington did not elaborate on its report at the time, and Moscow did not confirm it. It is as yet unknown if the assault on Friday is connected to the March 7 warning.
Dakar’s upcoming vote. Senegalese head to the polls on Sunday to select the West African nation’s next president in a contest rife with voting delays, violent protests, and political arrests. This is the first time in Senegal’s history that an incumbent will not be on the ballot. Outgoing President Macky Sall initially delayed the vote, which had been scheduled for Feb. 25, until the end of 2024—a move that his opponents argued was to help solidify his hold on power. But Sall reversed course earlier this month amid widespread public discontent and a constitutional council decision.
Nineteen candidates are in the running. Sall and his ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar party endorsed former Prime Minister Amadou Ba. But opposition leader Bassirou Diomaye Faye remains a front-runner. Faye and popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko were released from prison last week after facing legal challenges that some argued were politically motivated. Sonko remains barred from running for president over a previous conviction.
Greenlighting negotiations. European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to open accession talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, they urged Sarajevo to continue taking “all relevant steps” toward political, economic, and judicial reform. “Your place is in our European family,” European Council President Charles Michel wrote on X.
Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved membership candidate status in 2022, but Russia’s war in Ukraine and Sarajevo’s failure to meet certain requirements for joining the EU stalled its accession. Sarajevo continues to suffer ethnic divisions, including from separatist Bosnian Serbs, following a devastating war and genocide in the 1990s.
What in the World?
On Monday, the third annual Summit for Democracy began in which Asian country?
A. JapanB. IndiaC. PhilippinesD. South Korea
Odds and Ends
French President Emmanuel Macron wants the world to know he’s tough. On Wednesday, his official photographer posted black-and-white photos on Instagram of the French leader boxing—complete with bulging biceps and gritted teeth. The gallery was published less than a week after Macron suggested that deploying Western troops to Ukraine should not be ruled out. But whether Paris’s Rocky vibes impressed Russian President Vladimir Putin remains unclear.
And the Answer Is…
D. South Korea
Seoul should serve as an example of how a country can build a thriving, modern economy while maintaining democratic norms—and not choosing between alliances with the United States or China, Damon Wilson and Lynn Lee argue.
To take the rest of FP’s weekly international news quiz, click here, or sign up to be alerted when a new one is published.
The post Indian Opposition Leader Arvind Kejriwal Arrested on Graft Charges appeared first on Foreign Policy.