AAP and Kejriwal looked down and out, with people seeing through his drama and double speak. But, to his credit he cleverly manipulated his way back using an unconditional apology to sway public sympathy for him in Delhi. Series of blunders by the pre-poll favorite, BJP gave AAP a second wind and Kejriwal stormed back to power with a massive 67-3 verdict in the 2015 assembly elections. But, the public who were expecting a mature and efficient administration were in for a series of shocks. AAP fast proved itself to be worse than the much maligned mainstreamed political parties. Starting with the allegations of illicit fund transfers to party coffins to criminal cases against ministers and prominent leaders, AAP found itself in a quagmire of controversies. Politics of negativity, a hallmark of AAP from its inception continued unabated, as the party failed to show any maturity. Kejriwal’s showdown with lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung fast spiraled out of control with almost daily altercations and the CM crying foul over allegations of center destabilizing his government. AAP leaders who used to travel by auto and metro to stress their “Aam Admi” credentials started zooming around in SUVs. 21 MLAs were made parliamentary secretaries with lavish perks in an attempt to buy their absolute loyalty. The palatial bungalows occupied by AAP ministers is in sharp contrast with their earlier pretensions of humble dwellings for people’s representatives. While, no one will grudge our ministers getting all the facilities they need, why this double speak? Hypocrisy is the most pernicious dishonesty.
Even, grave charges of nepotism surfaced with party leader Naveen Jaihind’s wife Swati Maliwal appointed as the chief of Delhi Commission for women. The man used to target the PM and his party for sidelining veteran leaders, but had no qualms about unceremoniously kicking out Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, widely respected founding members of AAP, for questioning the culture of sycophancy and lack of transparency in the party. Kejriwal and his coterie, Ashish Khetan, Ashutosh and Manish Sisodia called all the shots and AAP soon denigrated into a house of sycophancy and corruption, with allegations against many legislators. Kejriwal is so full of himself that he didn’t even spare the media who made him; threatening to file defamation suits and calling for public trials. Such is his double speak that had filed a court affidavit to decriminalize defamation as it violated “freedom of expression”. Even claims of integrity came apart when he shamelessly defended his law minister Jitender Singh Tomar till he was left with no choice but to sack him. What an irony as this is the same man who asks other party leaders to resign at the slightest charges, the same man who has taken upon himself to issue “certificates of honesty”.
AAP suffered yet another moral depravation when Kejriwal shamelessly went ahead with his speech even as a farmer, Gajendra Singh hanged himself to death at the venue. With criminal cases against more than 20 of its MLAs, including serious charges like molestation, forgery and rioting, one wonder what legitimacy do AAP have to claim to be an honest party with integrity? Kejriwal’s credibility hit rock bottom when Dengue crisis hit the national capital. Lives would have been saved if the AAP government had shown half the zeal it has in tilting at the windmills. Of course, the Delhi Municipal Corporation should also share the responsibility. But, that doesn’t exonerate the state government by any means. The last straw was when he politicized horrendous rapes of minors in the capital to serve his political agenda of wresting control of Delhi Police. The same man who ridiculed the then CM of Delhi for expressing her helplessness in the aftermath of 2013 Nirbhaya rape case shirked responsibility as usual and sought to put the blame on the PM and LG. The impunity with which he indulge in hypocrisy is striking. For all his grandstanding, Kejriwal comes across as a vile man full of negativity, double speak, and moral turpitude. The man and his party brooks no dissent and is in a path of constant conflict with every other constitutional mechanism. This is a dangerous trend which flies in the face of democratic ethos of our nation.
It is time Kejriwal and AAP introspect, not for the sake of skeptics, but for the large section of the largely apolitical public who believed in your gospel and pinned hopes on you for a new era of clean politics. Of course, you can argue that, funds of other parties are also not transparent, their legislators also have criminal cases pending against them, endorse VIP culture, indulge in doublespeak, etc. But, then what is the difference? You made your case saying that you will make politics a different ball game, where ethics and integrity rule the roost. But, you ended up practicing the worst form of dishonesty, hypocrisy. When public retribution comes, it will be swift and bloody because they put u on a pedestal, but you ended up worse than conventional politicians; betrayal of trust invokes a sea of emotions. So, appraise yourself and reinvent before the tide of public anger sweeps you away. Empty rhetoric and quixotic idiosyncrasies must end. Sacking your minister in full public view in a press conference is an act of mere grandstanding at the cost of your comrade, rather than a gesture of genuine integrity as evident from your earlier attempts to brazen out serious charges against Somnath Bharati and Jitendra Singh Tomar. Rather than blaming everyone under the sun, AAP should look within if they are serious about transforming politics. More importantly, Kejriwal should learn to stay away from his cabal of sycophants who massage his bloated ego to control strings of power. Else, AAP is destined to remain a mere footnote in the history of Indian polity or a case study about how a few over ambitious men hijacked and destroyed a genuine cause for integrity in politics.
