I had this irresistible urge of writing this article from a long time but I wanted Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to appear in Court first. To be honest, I was pretty sure that the Gandhis will get a bail and will not be stopped from traveling. And that’s exactly what happened. NDTV real-time feed screamed “Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son and deputy Rahul Gandhi were today granted bail in the National Herald case, minutes after they arrived at the Patiala House court.” But there were at least three positive things that came out of this case. Firstly the Gandhis were dragged to a court like common criminals, secondly the case hasn’t ended, the next hearing will be on 20th February and thirdly, they have not been freed from further court appearances. And “Jail for Gandhis” or not, Subramanian Swamy is the man of the moment but if closely analyze his long history of legal battles, Swamy can very well be called, the man of last 20 years or so. But as the title suggests, this article is not just about Swamy, it is also about Arvind Kejriwal. Arvind Kejriwal was once hailed as the giant killer and a man on a mission to eradicate corruption from India. If we look at his history of legal or dharna battles, he has proved to be a damp squib.
Arvind Kejriwal – The Messiah of the Masses, Anti-Corruption Crusader and the Giant Killer
Arvind Kejriwal Vs Robert Vadra: Arvind Kejriwal accused DeshDamaad Robert Vadra and real estate giant DLF of deeply illicit links. He said Mr. Vadra was given an interest free loan from DLF, which also sold him vast amounts of property at hefty bargains in return for favours from the Congress. Arvind Kejriwal also supported whistle blower Ashok Khemka who was pivotal in getting Vadra-DLF deals exposed. After Vadra expose the congress party replaced Ashok Khemka with one Yudhvir Khyalia. Yudhvir allegedly converted all illegal deals of Robert Vadra into legitimate ones reinstated all his licences. He also created a charge sheet against Ashok Khemka.
So what did Arvind Kejriwal do?
AAP gave ticket to Yudhvir. Kejriwal created a case and pursued it till it trended and then he didn’t just toss it aside, he even used it to his advantage.
Santosh Kohli Murder Case: RTI activist Santosh Kohli, one of Kerjiwal’s oldest colleagues met with an accident and succumbed to her injuries. Arvind Kejriwal immediately created a case out of it. He accused Congress and BJP of killing Kohli. He promised to get justice for Kohli. But when Kejriwal became the CM he never probed, created an enquiry committee or recommend this case for CBI intervention. Worse, he even kept the Post Mortem report with himself and never made it public.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WLG8P0aQ_Q
Sheila Dixit Case: I think every AAP fanboy or hater will attest to the fact that Arvind Kejriwal had in his possession, a 370 pages proof against Sheila Dixit. He claimed to have cracked the commonwealth games case where he held Dixit as the prime suspect. But again the same pattern, he became the CM, he never ordered an enquiry and when Dr. Harshwardhan asked him to initiate a probe against Dixit, Arvind Kejriwal said “If Harshwardhan has proofs against Sheila, he should send it to him”.
Here is the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKYrwp0qly4
Kejriwal Vs Amit Shah: As soon as the news of Muzaffarnagar riots gathered steam, Arvind Kerjiwal planned a war against Amit Shah (Also Modi). AAP Volunteers protested against Shah for his alleged involvement in the riots. The official website of the Aam Aadmi Party published a malicious article that blamed Shah for the riots. Further investigations made it clear that if anyone was guilty, it was Azam Khan. The article was deleted. The volunteers stopped marching and the case was tossed aside again.
Kejriwal Vs Nitin Gadkari: Arvind Kejriwal prepared a list where he legendarily listed all the corrupt politicians of India. Unfortunately he mentioned the name of Nitin Gadkari, a man who is not known to take personal insults sportingly. He lodged a defamation case against Kejriwal and unknowingly gave the populist politician another excuse to take out and flash the victim card that he keeps in the front pocket of the loose-fitted shirt that wears. He was chased by the shutterbugs for weeks and had a rockstar march to the Tihar Jail where he famously denied from furnishing the bail bond. But in a week, his news became stale and he stopped trending on Twitter. So he silently furnished the bond and withdrew his case against Gadkari. Do you notice the same pattern again?
Now that we are done analysing the pattern of limelight and media bandwidth hogger Arvind Kejriwal, let us move to Subramanian Swamy
Kejriwal Vs Arun Jaitley: Arvind Kejriwal erupted as soon as CBI raided his secretary’s office and immediately accused Jaitley of massive corruptions in the DDCA. He didn’t submit a single conclusive evidence against Jaitley. Jaitley on the other hand lodged a defamation suit against Kerjiwal. And now Kejriwal and his accomplices are out on Bail. Well.
Subramanian Swamy – The man who uses our sluggish legal system in an awe-inspiring way
The 2G Spectrum Case: It was the year 2008 when Subramanian Swamy wrote a series of letters to PM on 2G spectrum allocation. In his letters, Dr. Swamy highlighted the inconsistencies in the system of spectrum allocation. Our ex PM Dr. Manmohan Singh chose to remain silent. And he was a pro at it. In the year 2009, the CBI filed a charge sheet in the 2G spectrum allocation but it stayed away from naming anyone. In the year 2010, the Comptroller and Auditor General, in its report on 2G spectrum allocation, highlighted a loss INR 1.76 lakh crore. Soon Radia tapes surfaced and so did other evidences. People hence got to know about this mammoth scam.
Dr. Swamy requested Delhi High Court to instruct the PM to prosecute A Raja for his involvement in 2G scam. Delhi HC denied. Dr. Swamy moved to the SC. Under the mounting pressure, UPA crumbled and A. Raja resigned as Telecom minister. While people were euphoric, Dr. Swamy moved to SC for cancellation of 122 2G licenses. The SC cancelled all 122 licenses allotted by A. Raja and imposed a fine of INR 50 million on Unitech wireless, Swan Telecom and Tata Teleservices.
He initiated a case. He stayed till justice was delivered and he made sure that the guilty are punished.
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) Case: When the EVMs were first introduced, Dr. Swamy had reasonable doubts about the trustworthiness of the device. Also, there was no subtle way for an ordinary voter to know if he pressed the intended button. Dr. Swamy was of the opinion that EVM fraud had a huge role to play in the victory of UPA-2. His PIL to investigate the working of EVM was dismissed by the Delhi High Court on 17 January 2012. In January 2013, the Election Commission informed the Supreme Court that it would include Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system after the court agreed with some points raised by Swamy who was the fighting a lone battle against the EVM. On 8 October 2013 the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to implement audit trail system in 2014 general election in phases. And in a rare gesture of gratitude thanked Dr. Swamy for his proactiveness and suggestions.
He found a problem. He suggested a solution. He ensured that the issue is resolved.
Swamy Vs Jayalalitha: In 1996, Swamy filed a criminal complaint against Jayalalitha in the disproportionate assets case. Dr. Swamy alleged that while Jayalalitha was the Chief Minister, she contravened the various provisions of law and indulged in some transaction of the property owned by the Government and so on. As always Swamy was loaded with evidences. The case led to her prosecution where she was convicted and sentenced for four years imprisonment.
Again! He initiated a case and made sure that the guilty are punished.
National Herald Case: The Congress party gave an interest-free loan of Rs. 90.21 crore to Associated Journals Limited (AJL) a company which ran National Herald, a newspaper founded by Shri Jawaharlal Nehru himself. A company called Young Indian Pvt Ltd bought the bad loan off the Congress for Rs. 50 lakh. AJL couldn’t fork over the loan amount, so it presented all its shares to Young Indian.
This is where the game begins. AJL owns assets worth between Rs 2,500-5,000 crore in many cities which after the share transfer are owned by Young Indian. The Registrar of Companies records suggest that Sonia and Rahul Gandhi jointly own 76% of Young Indian.
On 1 November 2012 Subramanian Swamy alleged that both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have committed fraud and land grabbing to a tune of 20 billion (US$300 million) by acquiring a public limited company called Associated Journals Private Ltd (AJPL) through their owned private company, Young India. And as everyone knows, The Gandhis were dragged to the court like commoners and the case is still not over.
Swamy’s exceptional activism skills and the uncanny ability of pinning the corrupt to the ground on display again.
Likewise, Aircel-Maxis Deal, AirAsia deal, Jet-Etihad deal and Hashimpura massacre attest Swami’s genius again.
Now this brings me to the conclusion of this article:
I see a large number of youngsters fervently supporting Arvind Kejriwal for he is their ordinary, everyday superhero. We are a nation that desperately looks forward to its hero to guide them. The rise of Arvind Kejriwal was because of the middle class frustration, in Kejriwal they saw a man who was not afraid to raise his voice against corrupt politicians, corrupt bureaucrats and corrupt system. They clapped when he accused Adani and Ambani. They clapped when he accused Congress and BJP. But what they failed to notice was, that as soon as they stopped clapping, Kejriwal stopped shouting too.
Kejriwal is a wrong hero and a wrong idol for the young generation.
Kejriwal and Swamy are both mercurial, but one indulges in theatrics and the other stands for justice
Kejriwal and Swamy have strong penchants for legal battle, but one uses it to hog limelight and the other uses it for justice
Both Kejriwal and Swamy attack ruthlessly but one comes with a victim card and the other comes with dossiers full of evidences
Both Kejriwal and Swamy dislike corruption, one uses it as an electoral pitch, other uses it to attack the corrupt
Both Kejriwal and Swamy have strong academic credentials, one uses it to prove how he left Laakhon ki Naukri to serve the nation and the other shows it in his legal battles
Youngsters of India must understand that choosing a charlatan as their hero is only going to make them like him.
