Why people love to hate Kejriwal?

A lot has been changed since 2012. At least for Arvind Kejriwal.

He was termed as a wave, even before I knew about 'wave' from my 66 year old father to which he told me back then; it is something like when Indira Gandhi Juggernaut stormed parliament with 352 Lok Sabha seats in year 1971; a wave that swept almost everything. 

Fast forward 2011, like my many friends I also, headed to Aazad Maidan Mumbai on 09 Aug, to express my solidarity with Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal, in a hope of getting rid of rusting and smearing gutter of Indian political system. What a charismatic Arvind Kejriwal appeared to us back then!!

His tiny stature, oversized and offcoloured shirt and profusely sweating forehead were enough to convince me. I immediately found myself connected with 'this man'. He won us hands down. I found my hero perhaps and naive I was that I thought; finally India will be liberated from corruption. Period. The idea has arrived; only the implementation was the leftover part.

Alas..had that been so easy! Alas had he been so!

I quote above Arvind Kejriwal 'this man' because that is where my answer lies beneath why Arvind Kejriwal failed.

The appeal of Kejriwal was so immense; it was so huge and so overpowering.  The aura appeared never lasting. Who could have thought back then; the guy will rigorously tested by mind blowing slaps, zooming past shoes and indelible ink? The journey doesn't end here, still. He keeps on getting one or two meanwhile.

He is now one of the most hated individual entity in Indian political scenario and his journey from summit to nadir has been swift and in a relatively very short period of time. Even, Tiger Woods would be astonished on his fall.

To me, the reason why people love to hate Kejriwal is not because most of the people are Modi followers as on date. Narendra Modi is an extraordinary leader and politician. He is the movers and shakers of the real politics from his student days. He is a fox, kind of super grand master of squared game of power, always one step ahead from rest of the pack, deceptive, accurate and precise.

A office goer, a daily wager, a mother or a shopkeeper doesn't understand the complex and boring political equations of the mix of Indian casteism, nationalism or religious alignment. They want to find the immediate connectivity with; be a man or an issue. We have seen that; people going to ‘Jantar Mantar’ on corruption with Anna, seen millions of people on roads across the cities and towns post 26/11 carnage, witnessed ‘Gherao’ on ‘Nirbhaya’. People are basically emotional and  Modi understands the nerve of the people like a seasoned doctor.

Kejriwal has never been a match to the acumenship of  Narendra Modi. Rather; he was just a manifestation of the anger of the masses against the rampant corruption of Congress raj which was storming whole country with progressive massive buildups on one corruption on daily basis.

May be he didn’t understand the subject much  but his approach at that point of time against a very sensitive issue to the core of the heart of ‘Aam Aadmi’ was  extremely well timed. He was relatively smarter in manipulating the emotions of the people and some socially well accepted names. His crusade against corruption was so impeccable that his aura appeared something out of the standard political and social norms in contemporary politicians and even well-established czars of politics found  themselves in hot water. Suddenly, he became the echo of the voice of almost every heart of the country, something which Narendra Modi will also taste 2 years later sweeping the general elections through a complete one man show.

 What an opportunity this man Arvind Kejariwal had then to turn himself into a real messiah!  But it wasn't there. Perhaps it hadn't to be there.

Then Delhi elections happened and from here is when Kejriwal started to commit blunders after mistakes.

In the past he had told people that he was an ordinary guy amongst us, like us. People did not believe him because an ordinary man never crusades against the system. We believe he has to be above us like a Mahatma Gandhi or a Martin Luther King or a Nelson Mandela.  Ironically, he actually was a common guy. Like all of us, impulsive, greedy, foul mouthed, scrounger with no vision and accusing 0like a child everything, everyone but other than he, himself.

It takes a lot of endurance and efforts to carry forward on your image and sometimes it takes years and it becomes even more difficult when you discover; you are a celebrity overnight. You have to look carefully for what you say and how you say so. That is why you see no authority speak in a haste. That is understood, they chew every sentence, word by word.

Unfortunately, Arvind Kejriwal turned out to be a hoax call. A big zero and a megalomaniac. His modus operandi turned into plain 'his way or high way' and it was happening in broad day light for everyone to see. He is corrupt, he is opportunist and he is cunning. At least that was something a message gone well deep to the very people who believed in him, including mine. The cracks started to appear in the spotless image of the crusader and irritation started to build up.

But this was not new in our political system. It happened previously also. Indira Gandhi was example; equally corrupt and megalomaniac. Even some of his contemporaries are like him even today. Jayalalithaa, Mamta Banerjee, Vasundhara Raje Sindhiya, Nitish Kumar, Akhilesh Yadav to name a few. So why witch-hunting only against him? Why people bully Kejriwal so much, so often than any corrupt or unpopular leader?

Answer is the frustration of the people with themselves for making a wrong choice back then. They expected every damn thing from every politician but Kejriwal. Their hate to Kejriwal is the outcome of their failed desire of a corruption-free India where the bride ran away even before marriage could be culminated. They considered him pure and clean.

Kejriwal disappointed them with his senseless decisions. He turned himself in these years as a joke even though he was given the benefit of doubt for being him a new comer; incident after incidents. He did not mend the way and even today, it is an anger within self how this fool could fooled us in the name of a 'change' and reached to the Chief ministership of Delhi. In a sense, the anger and hate is the reflection of defeat that Kejriwal could 'con' public at large and it really vents out in his abhorrence.

Alas he could have sensed what the artifacts were stored for him along the journey had he taken right steps and of course; in right direction. He could have done the real 'Modi' even before Narendra Modi actually arrived in Delhi. He could have had a mass followings had he carried himself carefully and judicially.

Once Modi was in the helm of affairs in the power corridors of Lutyens zone, Kejriwal lost the cause and zeal entirely and became true to himself; a complaint box and like any other politician. He got disoriented damaging further to himself only; by a futile battle against an ever enlarging Narendra Modi. He has become a butt of joke where people will find it amusing if Kejriwal missed any day cursing Modi and Modi staying a well calculated; completely ignorant.

People did not wait for him. Most of them have found a new hero in Modi. This further turned out to be a supplementary cause to hate him to the core by the people who are known as 'Bhakts'; last I knew.

What a lost opportunity Mr. Arvind Kejriwal...!!

Anna Hazare: How long?

Not first time in my generation, I saw people moving and not that first time I saw so many people united for a cause. Not far back, just remember the 26/11 terrorist attacks? We saw so many people angry and we saw what happened later.

But first time I saw people from all wake of life in India not only angry but I saw them on streets and roads as well. Whereas, in the case of 26/11, people were angry but they did not come on road compromising their jobs and routine tasks.  It was a pure government failure that those Pakistan sponsored terrorists barged into the financial capital of India, did the damage and we, the common Indians thought; may be this is the destiny of this country and preferred not to do anything spectacular. There were few demonstrations and frustration on the system. Few of the people marched with candles and debates ran in news channels but it did not touch the core of the heart of a common Indian and within a week the life returned to status quo.

 Then the series of corruption scandals errupted on the horizon. Right from commonwealth games to 2G spectrum and a new scam often with each passing day, the list got bigger and bigger appearing never to end. People moaned again and again, complaining the agony in different forums but unfortunately the government already neck deep in those scams, by then already gone dump and blind, had not courage and will to fix the problems and as usual we were left to our fate which never seemed to change the course and the country India ….alas…Gandhi could see it.

               Dear Bapu, perhaps nothing has changed in these 65 years! The dream you saw about this nation is dying slowly. The entrepreneurs who took the center stage in 1947-48 have their advanced DNA in present generation of politicians and bureaucrats who have forgotten what they were supposed to do. You were lucky Bapu, you preferred to close your eyes because you could have died otherwise with shame; how your few of fellow Indians are looting the country you fought for your whole life.

               These are not the thoughts I am writing here something  different. Every Indian silently think of this and mourns. But when you are crying in heart, when you are bleeding onto the system and agonized because the life has become more difficult due to someone else and angry because you cannot do anything alone, you tend to surrender yourself to the God because that is the only entity where you find the true solace. And when this surrender occurs at a larger scale, it is meant to be answered, may be that is the reason why we pray in large groups, in mosques, Churches, pujas and in gurudwaras.

               May be the silent prayers of millions of Indians were answered when a 74 year old and hardly known Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare decided to rise against the goliath corruption. And people realized that he was the man they were waiting for. It was his one call, to rise up against the impossible and I see a phenomenon never happened before. The sea of people all around me could have not been moved on a fake cause. It seems that finally we have a Gandhi here who is truly for us and who can fight a war for us which just few days back, seemed a day dream.

               It has already 11 days he is on fast and each passing day the movement is growing bigger and bigger. The BJP, left and few other parties seem to sit up and take the note of the mood of one and all but that is politics, not sure they are genuine, but the government has gone well beyond shamelessness whose prince appeared today after months only to doubt and criticise the demand of the same people who elected his party in power.

              What a pity? Government does not sense that if the Janlokpal is the demand of the democracy what is wrong to put it on table? When 9 out of 10 people go with Janlokpal why it cannot be implemented if democracy means majority?

For last 11 days a 74 year old man is on fast and the policymakers who are in his age bracket have gone numb to realize how fragile an old body may be at this age? For most of his life, Anna has fought for someone else and been on fast regularly. Even if he has remained winner there, the fasts have taken their toll. He is not equipped with some supernatural powers. He is simply an ordinary human with extraordinary vision and determination but yes his body also demands same calories.

But as I said, already on 11 day on fast how long his body can push? He is already minus 7 kilogram and still counting.  Only determination alone cannot sustain the pressure on his starved organs.

I feel strange these days when I have my food on the table.  Every bite seems asking some uncomfortable questions? How it feels to be hungry for 11 continuous days whereas I started to crack in just one day that too at the age of 33!

            Did government give a thought on it? Yes. It appears that they have taken Anna for granted. Perhaps they want to believe that Anna is used tosuch things. But have they considered for god sake; what if something goes wrong with Anna?  Do they realize what will be the consequences? Do they know it is a 74 year old body; a seasoned but more prone to organ failures? Will they take blame collectively? And how can you forget that at the same age when people respect each other more than anything else, an old man deserves more care and attention? Have Dr. Manmohan Singh, Kapil Sibbal, PranabMukherjee gone insane? How can they eat and sleep in such enormous situations?

For now, I want Anna to break his fast. It is making my life difficult with each new day. The primary objective has been achieved and let the fight be continued with a new strength.  It is not he should remain on fast for the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, but have food for a common Indian who see a great crusader in him, a source of strength and want to see him healthy and smiling.

It was touching to see an arrested man this day shouting in parliament gate for Anna’s fast “ A man is on fast for last 11 days and nobody cares”: I felt my hair rising!!!!