Chandigarh: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be reaching Hoshiarpur, Punjab, Wednesday to attend a 10-day meditation course at a vipassana centre in the district’s Anandgarh village.
The centre, called ‘Dhamma Dhaja’ (flag of dhamma), offers courses in vipassana meditation, as taught by S.N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin. It caters to the overflow of candidates who apply to the Dhamma Sikhara Vipassana Himachal Meditation Centre in Dharamshala.
This is the first time that the Delhi chief minister has chosen a Punjab Centre for his vipassana getaways. In the past, he has attended similar courses in Bengaluru, Jaipur and Nagpur.
Kejriwal was summoned for the second time by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy case on 21 December but with him in Hoshiarpur, the AAP leader is expected to skip ED’s interrogation.
Sources in the AAP say that Kejriwal is attending a 10-day introductory course which will end on 31 December.
During this course, participants are expected to not talk and lead a simple chaste life. The code of conduct also mentions a strict regimen for food. Communication in any form with the outside world is not allowed unless there is an emergency, and use of mobile phones is prohibited. A practitioner of this meditation is also not allowed to read or write during the duration of the course.
“The foundation of the practice is sīla — moral conduct. Sīla provides a basis for the development of samādhi — concentration of mind; and purification of the mind is achieved through paññā — the wisdom of insight,” said the website.
AAP leader Raghav Chadha informed mediapersons Tuesday that the meditation programme was a preplanned one and legal advice was being sought in the matter. Earlier, the ED had summoned Kejriwal in November but he had refused to face the questioning, choosing to instead go to Madhya Pradesh for campaigning. He had termed the summons by ED “illegal and politically motivated”.
The ED has already arrested AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh for their alleged involvement in the Delhi excise policy case over allegations that bribes were taken to favour a cartel of liquor dealers.
The Delhi excise policy was scrapped within months of its November 2021 rollout and the Delhi lieutenant governor had recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED, too, registered a case under the PMLA to investigate the use of the proceeds of the alleged crime.
In April this year, Kejriwal was questioned by the CBI for over 9 hours in the case.
Kejriwal had come to address a rally in Punjab in Bathinda Sunday, blowing the poll bugle for the forthcoming Parliamentary elections.
The “Vikas Kranti rally”, as it was termed, however, reportedly invited controversy over the alleged use of Punjab government chopper to traverse a small distance of 35 km to the rally site.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: ‘Ties to liquor barons, exorbitant profits’ — ED summons Kejriwal again in ‘excise policy scam’ probe