February 27 was a big day for ex-Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and their Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

In some ways, it may turn out to be even bigger than December 8, 2013, when the Delhi Assembly poll outcome saw the then debutant AAP putting up a stunning performance just 13 months after its formation, bagging 28 of 70 seats as against the BJP's 31.

To keep the BJP at bay, the then incumbent Congress was forced to help the AAP form its first government under Kejriwal.

In 2015 and 2020, the AAP swept Delhi, winning 67 and 62 seats, respectively, as against the BJP's 3 and 8 seats, even as the Congress failed to open its account in both elections.

The AAP also went on to clinch the 2022 Punjab polls by a landslide, winning 92 of 117 seats as against the incumbent Congress's 18.

However, the 2021-2022 Delhi excise policy “scam” dealt a body blow to the AAP, which saw its several top leaders, including Kejriwal and Sisodia, being imprisoned for months.

This marked the first time in the country's history that a sitting CM was jailed.

It demoralised the AAP leaders and workers, leading to the party's defeat in the 2025 Delhi polls at the hands of the BJP.

It also shocked the AAP leaders into silence.

The usually feisty AAP leaders chose to lie low, leave aside take on the BJP government in the national capital.

It seemed as if the AAP may gradually wither away – or so the BJP had perhaps calculated.

Explained | Court discharges Kejriwal, Sisodia in excise case: Why collapse of CBI case is a blow to ED probe And then came the discharge of Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others in the excise policy case by a Delhi court last Friday, which has galvanised the AAP rank and file.

Since then, Kejriwal has struck while the iron is hot.

He visited the Hanuman temple – he is a known Hanuman devotee.

Along with Sisodia, the AAP chief also addressed a press conference, highlighting the party's “kaam ki rajniti” which, they alleged, the BJP tried to sabotage by framing them in the liquor policy case through the CBI and ED.

On Sunday, the AAP held a rally at Jantar Mantar involving all its senior leaders, including Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann.

The venue has had a historical association with the AAP as it was the karmabhoomi of the India Against Corruption movement in 2011, which spawned the party.

Addressing the gathering, the AAP leaders made it clear that the party now intended to go “national” and occupy the anti-BJP space.

In an impassioned call, they said while building schools and hospitals and providing jobs are real “desh bhakti”, they believed that “Narendra Modi ke atyachar se desh ko mukta karana” would also be “desh bhakti”.

It remains to be seen how the AAP leaders' discharge plays out politically, but Delhi AAP chief Saurabh Bhardwaj asserted that Kejriwal would now be “more active in national politics”.

The special CBI judge's verdict that there was no conspiracy or criminal intent behind the Delhi excise policy “scam” is expected to restore some of the moral capital that Kejriwal and his team lost.

Its honesty card had been the AAP's USP.

Aware of the damage caused by....