The stars have definitely turned their backs on Mr. Arvind Kejriwal. From being a poster boy of scrupulousness to the favorite of the verbal lynching mob, he has come a full circle. Now the icing on the cake is Mr. Jethmalani , the noted lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP, has reiterated on being asked by the court again, that he has addressed Mr. Jaitley as a crook on instructions from Mr. Kejriwal. Mr. Jaitley, in no uncertain terms had slapped another defamation suit worth Rs. 10 crore in addition to the charges he had already filed.
I still remember the days around 1.5 years back (may be more) when Kejriwal was spewing venom against Mr. Jaitley in media with regards to his role of financial bungling during his tenure as DDCA chief.
I was wondering that if Mr. Kejriwal had mistakenly assumed Mr. Jaitley to be standing on the same pedestal as Sheila Dixit under whose tenure and “possibly” directions the Commonwealth scam had taken place. Mr. Jaitley is a renowned lawyer and is well known in elitist circles for analyzing issues by holding the scruff of the neck. Mr. Arun Jaitley knew that if one wrestles with a pig, it is the pig which ultimately wins irrespective of the result. Mr. Jaitley waited patiently for the temper of the anarchist to ebb down but it displayed no signs of receding. On the contrary, his patience was assumed by Mr. Kejriwal and his aides ( or rather cronies) as a sign of weakness and they aggressively renewed their shoot-and-scoot attacks. Not satisfied by dragging Mr. Jaitley into the quagmire, the AAP coterie also targeted his family. This was the last straw to break the camel’s back and Mr. Jaitley immediately filed a defamation suit worth Rs.10 crore.
Time passed and about a year later, Mr. Kejriwal unwilling to let go of the last remnants of his ego which was utterly smashed by numerous scams and ill-fame(Let just say Kapil Mishra: do I need to say more), put up a brave fight in courts. However, he hired Mr. Ram Jethmalani, a noted lawyer of repute and a known nemesis of Mr. Jaitley, assuming that enemy’s enemy is a friend. Mr. Jethmalani, however, although dressed in legal robes, was fighting a battle of his own with Mr. Jaitley (one can only assume). He called Mr. Jaitley a crook and when the latter objected to it and asked via his lawyers if he had got instructions from Mr. Kejriwal to address him as such, Mr. Jethmalani replied in the affirmative. The junior counsel on side with Mr. Jethmalani tried to salvage the situation by saying that Mr. Kejriwal had given no such instructions. To his utter dismay, Mr. Jethmalani said the former was not present when Mr. Kejriwal had given him these instructions. This remark was taken by the sitting judge as “scandalous”. This proved to be the last nail in the coffin and Mr. Kejriwal was promptly handed over another defamation suit by Mr. Jaitley worth 10 crores.
It remains to be seen as to how Mr. Kejriwal who has so vociferously claimed that AAP has no funds to contest elections and also attempted to divert the honest taxpayer’s money (via Mr. Manish Sisodia) as legal bills for Mr. Jethmalani will pay for these additional damages since this is a battle he cannot win. Mr. Jethmalani can muddy the waters for his client but it is well known that Mr. Kejriwal has scant respect for evidence and truth. It is always “my way or the highway” for him. If Mr. Jaitley does win this battle, it may open the floodgates and individuals and entities who have been viciously maligned by Mr. Kejriwal may sue him to extract their pound of flesh including M/S Sheila Dixit.
The shoddy chances of Mr. Kejriwal winning this bout were made murkier by Mr. Jethmalani who shared a personal grudge with Mr. Jaitley to nourish. He has almost thrown his client under the bus while bad-mouthing Mr. Jaitley. Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Jethmalani should have known that if a defendant slaps a defamation notice, it implies the individual is supremely confident of his victory and he has no skeletons to hide. However, for Mr. Kejriwal, who is perennially on election mode and supremely elevated levels of adrenaline, did not pause to think about it and went about it as if he was suffering from verbal diarrhea.
Mr. Kejriwal from the very onset of his career had a tried and tested formula. Make a ignorant claim of a scam, brandish some papers in front of the media, make outlandish accusations and finally drag the reputation of the individual or entity through the drains and lo and behold, everyone in the town is talking about you and you are the messiah of the poor and the downtrodden. But what he forgot is if a magician performs his most appreciated tricks with the same audience in attendance, the audience actually come to call the bluff. The inevitable happened and adding insult to injury was Mr. Jethmalani’s “scandalous” remark about Mr. Jaitley. Unless something really remarkable happens or Mr. Jethmalani has a ace card up his sleeve hitherto unknown to the general public, Mr. Kejriwal’s fate is deemed to suffer the same journey he has coerced the reputation of numerous individuals to course through: DOWN THE DRAINS.