Who is Arvind Kejriwal?: Modi's opponent released from prison on bail

India’s top court has freed on bail a prominent opposition leader and chief minister of New Delhi who was arrested nearly six months ago ahead of national elections.

Supreme Court Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan granted Arvind Kejriwal, 55, bail on Friday because his trial is expected to take time.

Kejriwal waved to supporters and briefly addressed them from his car after leaving the Tihar prison in the Indian capital.

"The government thought that it would weaken my resolve by putting me in prison. I have emerged much more potent than before. The court has upheld my honesty," he said.

But who is Kejriwal and why is he on trial?

Kejriwal is one of India's most influential politicians of the past decade and a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He is a former senior tax official who won the Ramon Magsaysay Award, often called Asia's Nobel Prize, in 2006 for leading a right-to-information movement and helping the poor fight corruption.

The 55-year-old launched the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), or Common Man’s Party in 2012, and is currently its leader. The party governs New Delhi, and also runs Punjab state.

The party’s symbol — a broom — and its promise to sweep the administration of graft struck a chord with New Delhi’s residents, fed up with runaway inflation and slow economic growth.

Kejriwal was initially arrested in March, weeks before the national elections, by the financial crime-fighting agency for alleged corruption in awarding liquor licences.

The government agencies accused Kejriwal’s party and ministers of accepting 1 billion rupees ($12 million) in bribes from a liquor distributor nearly two years ago in return for revising a liquor sales policy in New Delhi, allowing private companies greater profits.

He denied the accusations and called them a political conspiracy.

Before his arrest, Kejriwal had ignored multiple summons from the Enforcement Directorate that investigates money laundering.

Kejriwal, had repeatedly told election rallies that if he was corrupt "then there is no one in this world who is honest".

Alliance of opposition parties

Kejriwal's party is part of a broad alliance of opposition parties called INDIA which was the main challenger to Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in the elections, which concluded in June.

Opposition parties widely condemned Kejriwal’s arrest as a move by Modi's government against its opponents. They accused the government of misusing federal investigation agencies to harass and weaken its political opponents.

Kejriwal was released temporarily on bail in May to allow him to campaign in the elections before returning to jail on June 2.

The Supreme Court granted him interim bail in July, but he was rearrested by another government agency, blocking his release. The court granted him bail in that case on Friday.

'Released, not acquitted'

Two other top AAP leaders, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, who were also arrested in the case, have already been freed on bail by the court.

On Friday, Justice Bhuyan questioned the necessity and timing of Kejriwal’s arrest before the country’s national elections and said his further detention was wholly untenable.

Leaders of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party cautioned Kejriwal’s supporters that their leader has been released on bail and not acquitted in the corruption case.

Manoj Tiwari, a BJP lawmaker, demanded Kejriwal’s resignation as Delhi chief minister after the court imposed some conditions on his bail application.

He will not be allowed to meet witnesses in the case or visit his office, and some of his decisions as chief minister must be approved by the capital’s governor.

However, Kejriwal's release will boost his party, which faces new elections in New Delhi by February next year.