Come India, Let’s All Hate Arvind Kejriwal

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Funny country, ours is. We love to hate. We are so fed up of our own miserable problems and pathetic administration that we just need a media-created effigy to direct our hatred and burn. Beyond logic. Beyond rationale. Beyond the levels of tolerance and sophistication that one can expect from a country that boasts itself as the world’s largest democracy.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal humbled in the recent national elections. Just four members from his party got into parliament and Kejriwal himself lost by a mammoth 337,000 votes at Varanasi to the next PM of India, Narendra Modi. Honestly speaking, it was a stupid move by AK to challenge Modi at Varanasi. He could’ve contested from his home constituency, won his seat in parliament and actually made a difference from inside over the next 5 years. Isn’t that why he split from Anna Hazare in the first place??

The hate for AK started earlier this year when he resigned as CM of Delhi within 49 days of being voted the majority government. Yes, he betrayed the trusArvind-Kejriwal-2014-Picturest of Delhi, and the whole country, the eyes of which were constantly upon him. The disappointment turned to hate and we coined terms like Farjiwal, Fekriwal, Bhagoda and some of our trademarked Hindi swear words which never cease to evolve every-time they’re mentioned. In more ways than not, justified.

All he asked for this week was forgiveness and another chance. He apologized to the people of Delhi, and India. He conceded his mistake and inexperience. Gave his reasoning, and came out pleading for a chance to make things right.

And what do we do?? We lambaste him on social media, accusing him of dramatics, calling him all sorts of things, talking about flogging him publicly and what not! Not to mention his supporters being called AAP-tards and baboons (which, thankfully, is not racist in India).

Nobody wanted to touch AK before the elections. He came out and blasted the most influential people in India for corruption and money laundering, and nobody had the balls to do anything more than denying and reverse accusing him on the news. But now that BJP has swept off the elections, Nitin Gadkari comes along and files a defamation suit. Amazing things power does to people. [Correction: The case was filed a few months ago. Yet, of all the crimes people can commit, we see sense in filing a case for calling someone ‘corrupt’.]

Kejriwal, sent to judicial custody, refused to pay the bail/bond amount of Rs. 10,000 and said that he’d defend himself in court. Why do we accuse him of being above the law? Any defendant has the right to not pay the bail money. It’s an option, not a law. And he said he’d defend his stand in his court hearing. He’s not answerable to the pedestrian unappreciative masses on social media. Wake up and see sense, people. Hating him won’t get you anything.

Back in 2011, he went to jail for similar charges. Back then, he was just an activist, not a political leader. It was easy to pick on him. He didn’t pay the bail even then. He was seen as a hero back then. Why wasn’t that perceived as above the law? Our very own national hero, Mahatma Gandhi, was sent to jail by the British. He was offered bail for as little as 1 Rupee, but, he still declined.

We reelect criminals to parliament. People with blatant corruption charges, people who have more black money than most people earn legitimately their whole life, rapists, uneducated, worthless ministers. Everyone is forgiven and voted back to parliament.

Why not Arvind Kejriwal? A clean record, a degree from India’s premiere technology institute and so many more qualifications that could bring the more than half of the current parliament to shame… and most of all, clean intentions a good heart.

I don’t expect this article to be received well by most of you. I’m probably just another AAP-tard baboon on your timelines. Your hate for Congress and AAP has blinded you too much to read or hear anything against anyone remotely related to BJP, let alone trying to look at it objectively.

But, to those who see sense like me, I hope you’re in Delhi. Give him another chance. He’s a good man.

944 thoughts on “Come India, Let’s All Hate Arvind Kejriwal”

  1. Rahul Jain

    I have a few points to make here:
    1. AAP (and not AK, please understand AAP and AK are different) has been a good influence to the Indian politics, without a doubt. After the shameful loss in Delhi elections, Congress took matters seriously. Even BJP and other parties tried harder to connect with the people, understand the real problems. I give all the credit to AAP, the people’s movement and not to AK.
    2. Calling AAP supporters names is not a healthy practice. They may have a different opinion, but that does not give me the right to call them names.
    3. Not everyone who doesn’t support AAP’s view/methods is a supporter of BJP or Congress. Many of the bashers of AAP are ex-AAP supporters, some are BJP/Congress supporters too. Branding all of them BJP supporters (like the author of this article did) is like calling all Pakistanis terrorist.
    4. AAP has a long way to go, people had great expectations which it failed to meet. But if AAP fails or becomes just another political party, it will be a huge loss to people. In that case, citizen’s movement will be difficult to happen again and with this high participation.
    5. AAP has lost its focus and that is one of the major reasons why people lost faith in them. They started with anti-corruption issue, moved on to the secularism (which suddenly became anti-BJP), then one fine day the agenda became fighting the judicial system against bail bonds. (I’ve intentionally skipped many here).
    6. In the recent times, AAP portrays itself as being a martyr, oppressed by big parties and goons of BJP. For god’s sake, have some self-respect. When a common man slaps AK for any reasons (I am against him or anyone else being slapped), first thing they do is blame BJP. Blaming others (especially BJP) without proof, that’s classic AK. And when someone like Gadkari files a defamation case, the party starts propagating thieves are in parliament and honest man goes to jail. Enough of melodrama! I also think Gadkari might be corrupt, but I cannot call him so unless I have a proof. In fact, unless I see the proof, it is just here-say and we shouldn’t trust here-say. The man has done good job (like Mumbai-Pune Expressway) and his work speaks volume about his capabilities. When I compare his body of work with AK’s, I would want to trust Gadkari over AK in the case. But I wont. I will wait for the court’s judgement and trust only that. My point is- it is easy to throw sleaze at someone, its like a power. But as Spider-man movies tell us – with great power, comes great responsibility.

    I have much more to say, but maybe some other time, some other place. I look forward to a see a people’s movement like AAP bring about the change India desperately needs. But with the right means and methods. Instead of hindering and maligning the NDA government that might solve many of the problems we’re facing, AAP should play the role of a constructive opposition and be watchful. Its a great responsibility, needs a lot of maturity from the party. Jai Hind!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Girish

      You are absolutely right!..
      Author statement is funny “Your hate for Congress and AAP has blinded you too much to read or hear anything against anyone remotely related to BJP”.
      All who are against AAP are not BJP supporters. What made you think so?
      Why is it always AAP against BJP? Why not AAP against Congress. Why AAP is attacking only BJP and not other parties? Is it because they won? (Sour grapes)
      No explanation given by anybody of my friends who are AAP supporters on above.
      Unless somebody has substantial evidence, you just cannot accuse anybody. Everybody indirectly points to person they are taking about. Nobody takes name, Otherwise you will get defamation case against for sure.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Hi All,
    Without being politically aligned and as a neutral observer of the situation from very close quarters I can state one point very emphatically that Mr.Kejriwal needs to learn more about democracy which doesn’t only gives us the right to speech but also as a responsible citizen there is a duty to listen. If one doesn’t listen enough the rights of others are encroached. This is called maturity in democracy. If everyone starts speaking without listening then there would be chaos. Mr.Kejriwal always deferred the listening part.
    Also he squarely lacks the experience of governance and is even devoid of vision for it. He cannot even envisage that a subsidy grant will require budgetary provision and support, which shows he even lacks basic knowledge of governance. And I say all these things without an iota of doubt on his intentions till the time he decided to take the big plunge in Varanasi. His premise against corruption was lost in his rhetoric and dramatics. His advisers were hell bent on undoing the good image he created in all these years. He was permanently on speaking mode which prevented him to hear his own soul and hence the lost the confidence of the public at large.
    Now when he is at the lowest point in his career and his credibility is at all time low he should be introspecting rather than saying sorry. He should either dissolve the Aam Admi Party or start a reorganisation of the same. He should get out of the self apathy mode and start reaching out to the people with a positive agenda for governance and an affirmative outlook. He should get rid of the sycophants around him and create a more inclusive and democratic structure within his own party. He must not compare his organization with other parties who are in existence for ages. His politics must be positive and he must stay away from the hysterical fits.
    I hope this post of mine will be taken in right spirit.
    Rahul

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Rishab

    Chance given: Delhi elections within next 6 months. Lets see what u got Kejriwal. and to start with…dont make idiotic statements like “I swear on my children’s heads I will not take/give support of/to Congress/BJP” which could force you to go against your word later.

    Like

  4. Indian

    Can someone please clarify few of my doubts:
    a) Does Chief Minister of a State/UT needs someone’s approval to dismiss/suspend a police inspector? (in normal circumstances)
    b) If Yes, then do enlighten me?
    c) Is CM of state/UT has a lot of time on hand to sit on anshaan?
    Now lets go back a little, there was a time when oil prices doubled in a single day. At that time our esteemed PM went to office in a cart instead of taking designated vehicle to the office. it took around 3hours for the whole journey.
    By evening the PM’s advisors, kindly suggested the PM to take vehicle because time wasted in travelling is lot more expensive than saving fuel. Even PM at that time did listened to advisors.
    I can actually write a lot more, but its not the right place or time.
    I just want to understand how can a graduate from such a prestigious college/university and very highly dignified ranked officer tend to do behave in this manner.
    Dictatorship/democracy are two different terms. ( i know i have written many things)

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  5. I don’t understand. What has he done to be on the receiving end of so much hate? Has he done scams? Has he favoured some corporates over people? Has he looted money?
    All that idiot did was come for US. And now we’re the ones hating on him. All he did in power was work for us. They didn’t even sleep properly. They worked so hard. I saw it myself, living in Delhi. Their government was great. All he did was resign.
    He fought some of the most corrupt people in the country with absolutely nothing. What have we done? Nothing. All we do is sit here and make such comments. It is indeed shameful, honestly. Here’s a man fighting for us, and here we are, ridiculing every step of his. He is not a politician, cut him some slack. He is still learning. He has achieved more in the past 3 years than we will probably do in our whole life. This is just foolishness.
    Himansh
    http://playsofconsciousness.wordpress.com/

    Like

  6. Shivangni

    Can we afford to give reigns to an inexperienced, confused maverick? I feel he isn’t really repentant, the apology is an attempt to crawl back to power. What stops him & his party from serving people. Why do they want power? His Modus oprandii was very similar to Congress’s outdated appeasement politics. Why do people call him names? It’s because he calls everyone else corrupt. His wife hinted that his kids would feel bad, what about the families of people he routinely accuses of crimes without any proof. If his USP was politics with difference, it has been lost in hypocritical stance during elections.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Biju Ashok

    A lot of discussions and a lot of bluffs… what is the point??? is it AAP or AK you are willing to target???? he is a person who has been trying to change something at-least…. not like most of us who hid behind the screen of the lap top and scribble… I am politically biased to the left side but I have to reckon that what AK has done is historical and no one ever could do it… he may or may not be victorious in the next election… but what matters is that someone has stood stern enough to challenge the system which is a labyrinth of corruptions… yet I hope some one will reduce the price of rice and daal, the advent of self-financing institutions, the idiotic development policies which demands more taxes… let me stop this and work hard for my family because no one will contain the inflation, no one will consider to establish a cheaper educational system and no one will bother to reduce higher tax rates even on the medicines.

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  8. But He paid the bail money anyway right ?
    and did everything he said he would never do
    i agree AAP can definitely bring reform to indian politics but arvind kejriwal is just In for power and nothing else

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  11. Abhishek

    I was very impressed by this article and, after recently announced Delhi election results, stopped by to check the latest updates. Are you still writing?

    Like

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