Arvind Kejriwal became a popular figure after he was seen alongside Anna Hazare in massive rallies to bring in Jan Lokpal or Citizen’s Ombudsman Bill where in all the corruption cases were to be handled by independent body comprising social activists.
Even though Anna was never in favor of starting a political party, Kejriwal started AAP with declared intention of fighting corruption and mainly Congress and Sheila Dikshit in Delhi.
When AAP was formed, I bet many middle class educated Indians who made more than half of India, had positive vibes about the party. The country was fed up with UPA and it scams. It needed a face that can address issues like corruption, price rise, and governance. It needed a mouthpiece that will speak for entire India and rightly so.
An IIT graduate who fought against corruption with Gandhian Anna was a hope for country’s future. India saw a rise in new brand of politics. It won 28 of 70 seats in Delhi elections in 2013. With hung assembly, it was a major question for Kejriwal to show his credibility. But against all odds and expectations of Aam Aadmis in our country, he formed a minority government with the same Congress whose wrongdoings were used by him to enter politics.
At last, it was proved that ‘politics is scoundrels’ last resort’. But due to Congress and opposition BJP not supporting Jan Lokpal, AAP government fell after 49 days in power.
In 2014 LS elections this anti-corruption crusader fell prey to the Modi wave that was evident throughout the country. The country was fed up with 10 years of UPA so that it needed a new face for India. With already proved good governance in Gujarat, India saw dynamic leader Narendra Modi as a person who can change fortunes.
With all middle class educated people and the youth population riding the charismatic Modi wave, it was the sight difficult to digest for Kejriwal. His target was set to Modi. This was just the beginning. He lost Varanasi to Modi by a margin of 3.37 lakhs votes.
But by then, the Modi Obsession of Kejriwal had started. He anyway didn’t have any portfolio to work for apart from blaming Modi.
Person who had started his political career against Congress and corruption easily shifted his attention towards Modi. After all, Modi is a personification of Aam Aadmi who from selling tea became top leader in the largest democracy. This threatened his common man to CM story.
When CBI raided Kejriwal’s principal secretary on corruption claims, he targeted Modi on Twitter calling him a coward and a psychopath. It was the same Kejriwal who had welcomed the abolishing of ‘single directive system’, which made it mandatory for the CBI to seek prior approval of the government before investigating any official at the level of joint secretary and above, but now he wanted CBI to take his permission before raiding his secretary.
When Sonia Gandhi’s name came up in Italian courts in relation to AugustaWestland chopper scam, rather than speaking against the Congress president, he alleged both BJP and Congress are two faces of the same coin. He further diluted focus on Congress corruption by raising issue of Modi’s educational degrees.
He and his AAP army with lieutenant ex-journalist Ashutosh claimed that Modi’s BA degree from Delhi University and MA from Gujarat university didn’t exist. Later when BJP released all marks-sheets of PM and DU confirmed they were valid, they started making stupid claims. They lost it completely when Ashutosh asked examination centre of PM! I mean seriously?!
Recently when Modi launched e-rickshaw and e-boats in Varanasi, Kejriwal asked on Twitter whether it was advertisement for Reliance and Ola for the stickers of both the companies appearing in the pic where Modi was riding an e-rickshaw. Later he got trashed by everyone on Twitter.
At a time when Congress is dying day by day and only regional parties are able to challenge BJP, Kejriwal might be having political aspirations and no one says that’s wrong. But rather than targeting Modi for silly non-existent issues and posting movie reviews on Twitter, Delhi CM should indulge in constructive criticism of the central government.
Since he is not doing that, it means for him goal post has shifted. Corruption is not an issue for him anymore. If he doesn’t shift his mentality and perceptions of looking at things, Arvind Kejriwal will be seen as Rahul Gandhi 2.0 in making and we all know how this magician called RaGa makes wonders.
