“Pride comes before a fall”.
An old saying yet it rings so true in the context of the recently concluded Delhi MCD elections. Hardly ever the MCD elections in any state were given a glaring coverage in primetime news. The reasons were myriad and varied. It may be attributed to the “Modi wave” which still dominates as can be gleaned from the election results. It may be attributed to the interest of the Central leadership of all the political parties in fray. However, the primary eye ball grabber seemed the fall of Arvind Kejriwal-the Chief Minister of Delhi and his 3 year old fledgling party who managed to grab a whopping 67 seats out of 70 in the last Delhi Assembly elections.
A Joint Commissioner of Income Tax in his previous stint in the Central Government, Mr. Kejriwal, did manage to dodge all odds by diverting the India Against Corruption agitations under the banner of the legendary Anna Hazare, the Gandhian social worker from Ralegaon Siddhi, Maharashtra, to culminate his political ambitions. The risks taken were well calculated and sub-versified and he ended up with a 49 day government in Delhi with tacit support from the INC whose personnel he had accused as the flag bearers of corruption during his days of agitation (lest someone forget the 370 page document {with Sheila Dixit’s name embossed }he was brandishing like a sword in front of electronic media). Ringing true to the core element of anarchism which he had exploited successfully during the agitations against UPA-2 government, he pulled support from the government he was heading thereby dissolving the Assembly and generating the need for fresh elections.
As luck would have it, the anger against UPA and perceived lack of action from the NDA government (hopes from Mr. Modi were sky high like he was the wizard of OZ), AAP grabbed 67 seats out of 70 in the Delhi Assembly Elections, catapulting Mr. Kejriwal to the highest echelons of the political fraternity. He became an overnight star like Hrithik Roshan after “Kaho Na Pyar Hai”. Comparisons were made to Anil Kapoor’s Nayak and he was a darling of the downtrodden and middle class members who had to bear the heat of corruption in the quagmire called Delhi.
Scrolling down to April 2017:
Mr. Kejriwal has a dubious distinction about the maximum number of humorous and sarcastic memes as a member of a political fraternity (not sure about the term “MAXIMUM” but it must be pretty high). He has been slapped more times than anyone cares to remember by the same groups for whom he had been a staunch advocate. He has been castigated and jeered for hobnobbing with the likes of Kanhaiya and the other traitors of JNU. His credibility has been lost over his innumerable and relentless attacks on Mr. Modi whom he comprehended as his main competitor to the designation of Prime Minister. He has also managed to cast himself aside in the eyes of the followers of the majority religion by rubbing shoulders with Sikh radicals and Khalistan supporters. He also has been denigrated for using (or rather misusing) Twitter for running the daily activities of the Government. Appointing himself as the flag bearer of sublime virtues like honesty and scrupulousness, he not only shared a dais but also a bone crunching (debatable owing to tummy size) hug with scamster, Mr.Laloo Yadav. Adding to the pot of manna like honesty was the Shunglu Committee recommendations that tagged along like a sorry thing to his resume. He also became a proponent of Leftist ideology by demanding proof of the surgical strikes against terrorist camps, standing on the same pedestal in JNU campus with the Marxist followers who were raising anti-India slogans and numerous other frivolous activities which could only draw condemnation from a patriotic Indian.
Like a dirty loser, he began finding faults in EVM’s when it was evident that the mammoth called Modi would crush and crumple anything in its way to lead India to its pristine glory. He also unflinchingly supported (and in turn received support) M/S Mamata Banerjee, the CM of Bengal over indecipherable taunts, rants and hullabaloo over anything anti-Modi and indirectly anti-national. As far as his personal triumphs go, he perfected 2 games which will be celebrated forever in the annals of dirty politics: “Blame Game” and “Shoot-and-Scoot”.
Then like a climax of a well-directed thriller, came the Delhi MCD elections.
Just before a few days from the commencement of the MCD elections, the AAP candidate from Rajouri Garden contesting in the bypoll (necessitated by his participation in Punjab polls) had lost his deposit. As the small AAP coterie, watched the MCD results with bated breath, the results turned out to be a damp squib for them. Before even the election results were announced, a section of the AAP coterie sensing the public sentiment, had already shared with the media their nonsensical and desperate theory of EVM tampering.
The end consequence was inevitable. Party MP Bhagwant Maan who was conspicuous by his absence from the MCD elections made the first crack in the wall by stating that the party needs to introspect reasons outside of the disgusting theory of EVM tampering. Former office bearer, Mr. Mayank Gandhi, also made a remark that took snipes at Mr. Kejriwal’s ego that had caused him to sideline the majority office bearers of the Maharashtra AAP unit. Earlier it was also “allegedly alleged” by Mr. Yogendra Yadav and Mr. Bhushan, that anything uttered contrary to the massive ego of Mr. Kejriwal lands the individual outside the party frames.
Mr. Kejriwal (all credits to him), on his part, failed to read the writing jabbed so clearly on the walls that it is him and his national ambitions that have hit his party so hard.
Given the extent to which he has managed to dent his image owing to his suicidal spree, it is very difficult to imagine a personal comeback for Mr. Kejriwal. BJP, on the other hand, post Bihar defeat, had made ample use of the time for introspection and just like a phoenix rises from its own ashes, BJP had made judicious use of opportunity and intellect to capture one citadel after another. AAP (or I would rather say Mr. Kejriwal since it is a one-man party) just invested on the front page advertisements of major newspapers and contributed to the revenue of these publications and used (at least attempted by Mr. Manish Sisodia) the honest taxpayer money to fund legal bills necessitated by the case lodged by Mr. Arun Jaitley when the coterie led by Mr. Kejriwal cast aspersions over financial irregularity during his tenure as DDCA chief.
To surmise the topic, it may be stated that unless a complete metamorphosis occurs to Mr. Kejriwal, his political future looks bleak. We may have seen ample and substantial proofs which indicate that Mr. Kejriwal is not a phoenix to rise from his ashes but may be compared to firefly whose glow extinguishes at day-break.
