My original comment/post (13 Oct 2012):
Arvind Kejriwal is the Julian Assange of India. IAC is now Indian WikiLeaks. Perhaps the only difference between the two is that while Julian Assange worked on all days of the week, Arvind ji works only over the weekends :)
Friend: What we see over the weekend, is the result of what he does over the week. I am big fan of his, I think he is exactly what India needs now.
Me: Or the result of what others choose to send him... of course he doesn't go visit all govt offices to collect evidences... he himself says, "logon ne bheja hai"... anyways, I like him and most of his exposures but what I don;t like about him is his dramatics - he acts as if sky is going to fall down if we don't come out on the streets to support him... and he will decide what is right and what is wrong for us... he fails to see good things in our democracy.. I don't remember hearing anything "positive" from his mouth in the recent years... also, he doesn't have a sense of humor; does he ever smile? He acts like a "heart broken" jilted lover. Anyways, I am not judging him but only sharing observations... for what he will turn out to be, we can only wait and watch...
Friend: No you should see Hum log's last edition on NDTV, I really loved his simplistic charms , he smiles all the time even when people are asking him tough questions. I loved the way he responded to all those questions. Every politician/activist exhorts to enrage public, Jai Prakash Narayan used Ramdhari Singh Dinkar's poem to exhort people. See he has to rabble rouse or we the middle class of India, who suffer from amnesia so frequently, would forget him. I think if you think deeply he is trying to present a practical use case of the anti graft law he has been fighting for. Look at the present situation, Do you think Salman Khurisd, who presides over the CBI's prosecution wing would allow a fair investigation against himself? Isn't it a farce? So clearly by raising all these issues, he is making mango people like me and you, discuss on these things, and question the black box of governance. I really love the way Yogendra Yadav puts it in his article, winning is never in garnering votes, but actually changing the rules of the game , and Arvind Kejriwal has done that with his plain speak and by calling a spade a spade.
Me: ok.. Whereever i watched and heard him, he was in a monotone.. in india today conclave from the podium, he spoke in the same tone... i dislike the way he accuses media, saying, "aap media wale..." he speaks the language of politicians when it comes to matters involving IAC.. i had read yogendra yadav's article but he is inside arvind's political party... also i think we cant say yet that they have changed the rules of the game, have they? What they are doing, exactly that was done by Tahelka many years back... I would support Tahelka more than IAC because those guys didn’t want power and didnt have political agenda... I think arvind ji is doing nothing new, and so far he is surviving by sheer guts... politics is not about winning a bravery award...
Friend: I keep highest regards for the likes of people like Tarun Tejpal, Shoma Chaudhary and Ashish Khetan, the person who nailed Babu Bajrangi and the Naroda Patia bast**ds I absolutely love them, they have actually done a great disservice to this nation by not joining politics, and as far as being brave is concerned, its important to fight first, and that's what Arvind is doing. I also did not like his speech in India Today conclave, but still it was many times better than the politically correct Sandeep Dixits's hogwash who spoke next. If you remeber there was a question in the end, by a reporter ki Arvind Kejriwal ko itna gussa kyuan aata hai, and he simply said ki mujhe itna gussa nahin aata hai. Media has been more interested in Arvind, Anna, Kiran, and never chases their ideas, the discussion are more on their antics than what they want, he is surviving because he enjoys tacit support among the thinking middle class. They have ofcourse changed things with common man getting more vociferous in his demands for probity, Will their ideas see light of the day is yet to be seen, but still they are promising a better tomorrow aint?
Me: yes, i agree with you in general on this.. just one advice - love their work but not the doers... similar to what gandhiji said, hate the wrong deeds not the doers... in this world we never know how people and things will change... only thing constant should be our faith in good and honest work... those who are good and honest today, may change colors tomorrow.. so we should like their work but not become fans of them personally...
Me: Well, all said and done, Jan Lokpal Bill failed, didn't it? Despite all his brilliance and all his supporters! So when he couldn't destroy system, he has started to destroy people now... When this will fail, I don't know what will be his target and ever-changing course of action... At least with Jan Lokpal, his demand was "for" something... Now his demands are "against" some people... Anyways, let us wait and watch...
Friend: Was getting jan lokpal bill passed only his duty? We are seeing an ideal case of conflict of interest here, when Salman Khurisd has to sit over an enquiry against himself. Which system is he destroying, he is just destroying notions? Do you think the current parliament represents India, which should have been a microcosm of the Indian society? What kind of people is he targeting? He did not target any one of very high integrity; he has targeted some people who no body had dared to touch. As Obama some time back if you cant stand heat, get out of kitchen. I am just waiting when he will fire his salvo on Gadkari, the man who destroyed BJP as a credible alternative.
Me: Jan Lokpal was his and his team's baby and hence of course it was his team's failure that it couldn't get it passed by creating pressure on govt through public protests. Secondly, now something very interesting comes to my mind. Even Lokpal was not truly his idea. Lokpal bill is pending for many decades as we know. Here enters Arvind Kejriwal and Team Anna, they do re-branding of Lokpal as Jan-Lokpal and declare themselves as visionaries! Does Arvind ji has even a single genuine idea of his own? After copying Lokpal into Jan Lokpal which failed, he has copied the Tahelka now (or WikiLeaks as I said) and has become the revelation man... I got his book "Swaraj" whose title is copied from Gandhi ji's "Hind Swaraj". Even his trademark Topi is basically Gandhi Topi but rebranded by writing something over it. Have you ever thought about it? The man looks like a "swing master"... I have not fallen in his trap..
Friend: (comment missing - perhaps he deleted afterwards - but here he accepts that even Arvind ji didn't do pioneer work in RTI yet he took some credit and cited many other cases where Arvind Kejriwal didn't start the concept but only took someone else's work forward. But Friend justifies that copying doesn't matter.)
If you say no one has a new idea, in order to justify Arvind copying things, using them after rebranding, for his own political agenda, then it is jot right.. Nothing wrong in being copy cats, but we should know that he has "nothing new to offer", that was my point... you agreed with it, that is good.. so he is trying what has been tried, tested and failed before... how is he "game changer" then? by shouting loudest?
Friend: (comment missing - perhaps he deleted afterwards - but pointed out how Kejriwal exposed Vadra)
Me: Everyone knew Pulkit, that Vadra was not honest. Even now after all the allegations he will never go to jail. So ultimately the scandal and all the proofs won't mean anything in hard factual terms, or may be will be like a whiff of wind for the Family. Compare that with Bofors, or with Tahelka and you will realize the difference in scale and impact. Also, debating over TV is one thing, and going to the court to make "a difference" is something other. In this area, compare his approach with that of Subramanyam Swami, and then you will realize the difference in real terms on the ground. For using social media, even Mamata Banerjee uses it; Sashi Tharoor used it; and who doesn't use it tell me. If you believe no party will field corrupt candidates, then you should refresh with the fact that Kalmadi and Raja have been restored with VIP status - are back on parliamentary boards! What does all this mean?
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Afterthoughts: Despite all the verbal allegations and hype generated by Arvind Kejriwal and his team, the fact of the matter is that he will only help INC (Cong.) win the elections. Because no matter what he tries, Kejriwal and team will end up dividing the opposition votes, thereby helping none other than the current govt. against which he campaigns.
Recently a lot of allegations of corruptions have been made on Kejriwal's team members; some of those are of serious financial frauds. But they have chosen to say "no answers" to those. In politics, as in real life, there are no good and bad people. There are good and bad actions, decisions and attitudes. If either of Digvijay Singh or Kejriwal or even our PM choose to counter allegations made on them with "silence" or plain faced "denial", I count all of their actions as an "equalizer". With recent allegations against Kejriwal's team, and their attempts to run away from those, media has already exposed them. It is good for our nation that unqualified juvenile upstarts are differentiated. It will allow genuine and serious civil protests, true agitations, social reformers without political agenda and even serious political parties to remain in the fray and get our attention they deserve. Ultimately, our Nation matters to us more than any Surname or Banner.
Recently a lot of allegations of corruptions have been made on Kejriwal's team members; some of those are of serious financial frauds. But they have chosen to say "no answers" to those. In politics, as in real life, there are no good and bad people. There are good and bad actions, decisions and attitudes. If either of Digvijay Singh or Kejriwal or even our PM choose to counter allegations made on them with "silence" or plain faced "denial", I count all of their actions as an "equalizer". With recent allegations against Kejriwal's team, and their attempts to run away from those, media has already exposed them. It is good for our nation that unqualified juvenile upstarts are differentiated. It will allow genuine and serious civil protests, true agitations, social reformers without political agenda and even serious political parties to remain in the fray and get our attention they deserve. Ultimately, our Nation matters to us more than any Surname or Banner.
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and do not represent those of any organization associated with the author. You are welcome to share your opinion in the comment section.
