Kejriwal’s tweet on Karunanidhi, insensitive or ignorant?

Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Karunanidhi’s death has created a stir in the country. After the prolonged illness, the news of his death was followed by messages of condolences issued from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself and from other leaders from BJP, Congress and other regional parties. Karunanidhi may have differed all through his life with the other parties on issues of Dravidian politics and Tamil identity but he is a stalwart politician nonetheless. A leader of his magnitude deserves at least a simple gesture of respect while he fights for his life. The image of Congress President Rahul Gandhi smiling besides a bed-stricken Karunanidhi did the rounds. But Rahul Gandhi is known for having awkward smiles and nonsensical responses for every situation.  His death might have finally stopped the smile of Gandhi but sadly he was denied the proper respect from the able Chief Minister from Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal.

While the politicians and common people were saddened by the demise of Karunanidhi a tweet from the Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s official Twitter handle made situations worse. His tweet betrayed how updated and how troubled he really was with the worsening conditions of Karunanidhi. The tweet which came at 6:45 pm in the evening signalled that Kejriwal was going to visit the DMK President in Chennai. The only problem was that by then Karunanidhi had been long gone. Karunanidhi’s death had occurred at least half an hour prior to the tweet from Kejriwal. Condolence messages and visits from party leaders and supporters had already started to the aggrieved family.

This tweet was not just insensitive but also confused the people who were closely following the Tamil Nadu leader’s critical health and were praying for his life. Kejriwal was mocked at on the social media platforms especially on Twitter and people ridiculed him for being so aloof from what is happening in the country. The Tamil Nadu handle of his Aam Aadmi Party even had to put out a tweet to inform Kejriwal of the demise of the DMK leader. Kejriwal being Kejriwal is yet to issue an apology to either the family or to the people whom he succeeded in confusing with his ill-informed and ill-timed tweet.

Kejriwal who had come to power in Delhi by promising free wifi to the residents himself seems to have issues with internet connectivity. Either that or his tweet indicating a visit to the DMK leader was just a gimmick to show that he cares and wants to take part in the grief of other people. There is also a probability that the internet connection of his house or party office is in reality a terrible one, he should immediately change his service provider. Leave alone the common people of Delhi, at least the CM of Delhi must not suffer from bad internet. At least Kejriwal can sort this much out by himself without going into his dharna mode, after all charity begins at home.