It’s seems our politics’ favorite entertainer is back in action. Following the inauguration of the new party office near Lakshmi Nagar Metro Station, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal kick-started his 2019 election campaign with the following quote:-
Let’s take a look:-
“AAP will win all the seven seats in the 2019 election… Our government in the state has worked for the people. Is there anything that the Lok Sabha members have done for the people in over four years?”
In an aim to attract more followers, the incumbent CM said, “…….We don’t have the money to contest elections. ……We have not come here to indulge in such corrupt ways. ………….. We need to ensure that the AAP wins all the seven seats in the upcoming elections. We need to go door-to-door to strengthen AAP…..”. He ended his address with the following:-
“I am giving you, the people of Delhi, the responsibility of Delhi’s 7 Lok Sabha seats. In return, I give you a promise of a beautiful, healthy and educated Delhi.”
Kejriwal promises a beautiful, healthy and educated Delhi in return for the 7 seats? This is probably the last thing on the mind of a man, who is anything but a responsible CM of the Delhi NCR. While we have no grudges with his optimism, his record of making tall promises and shamelessly reneging on them is something none can digest easily.
Coming to the hard facts, no one is a stranger to the fact that in 2014, this very guy ditched his post after a tenure of 49 days in order to fulfill his PM ambitions. However, neither could Arvind Kejriwal win the desired Lok Sabha seats, nor could he win against Narendra Modi. Worse, his party lost all the 7 seats for contest in his own backyard, i.e. the Delhi NCR, while BJP, whom none expected to win more than 3, took home all the 7 seats, adding to a historic tally of 282 seats on their own.
This is not the first time Kejriwal has backtracked on his promises. Except for the Delhi surprise of 2015, where the party won a landslide victory of 67 out of 70 seats, Aam Aadmi Party has practically failed to win anywhere it contested. In a bid to corner PM Modi, AAP contested in states like Punjab, Goa, even Manipur for that matter, and lost royally in all the states, Punjab being the only exception where they at least managed to garner enough seats to become the lead opposition. The stints in Gujarat and Karnataka were more hilarious than serious, with Aam Aadmi Party not even being able to save their deposits on the contested seats, forget winning them.
Even the MCD elections, i.e. elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi were no better. Despite a relentless campaign, AAP lost badly, failing to win even 50 seats in total. The massive infighting that began with the infamous expulsion of AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan and is now seeing leaders like Ashutosh, Ashish Khetan and Kapil Mishra leaving the party for good didn’t help them either.
Also, if we simply focus on Kejriwal’s governance, he has not delivered on any of his promises either. Forget free electricity, the current AAP government has not even ensured that proper electricity reaches every home and hearth. Worse, when the city reels under smog and diseases like dengue, malaria etc., the AAP government either does nothing, or has one simple solution: Pass the blame on PM Modi.
In such a case, if Kejriwal has the audacity to claim that he will win all the 7 seats in the Lok Sabha elections of 2019, he is very far from the truth. It is not a one sided contest as he thinks. In 2019, apart from AAP, Congress will be fighting on the same electoral base, and BJP would be giving their best to milk the opportunity and retain all their seats.
If a person can’t maintain his backyard properly, how can he/she talk about taking on the world with finesse? But we guess, that’s Kejriwal for us. He is a literal personification of the Awadhi couplet:- ‘Aag laagi hamari jhonpadiya mein, hum gaavin Malhar’ [We sing fiddles even as our huts get burnt].
