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Activist Arvind Kejriwal called them corrupt leaders, now he calls them his friends

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Saturday shared the stage with several leaders he has openly targeted for corruption.

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal delivered an impassioned, almost dramatic, speech Saturday to push for a united opposition as he shared the dais with leaders from across party lines — some of whom he has lambasted in the past and shared a rocky equation with.

Several opposition leaders attended West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s rally in Kolkata this weekend, intended as a grand show of unity against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Among them was Kejriwal, also the Delhi Chief Minister, who has been known for his very vocal, sometimes even reckless, attacks on several politicians.

To be sure, it isn’t just Kejriwal, but several other political leaders who, despite being bitter rivals with an unpleasant history, came together in Kolkata.

Saturday’s rally, in fact, was a sequel to Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s swearing-in ceremony in May last year that became a massive show of opposition unity, also attended by Kejriwal.


Also read: No one can deter Mamata Banerjee from her unrealistic PM ambitions now


Blast from the past

Having based his activism and entry into politics on his image as an anti-graft crusader, Kejriwal has openly targeted many political leaders on the issue of corruption.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar is one such politician.

In November 2016, soon after demonetisation, Kejriwal had attacked Modi for talking about ending corruption while seeking blessings from Pawar.

“Yesterday, PM Modi took blessings of Sharad Pawar to fight against black money, no irony can be bigger than that,” he had said, leading the NCP to threaten him with a defamation suit.

Pawar had also featured on the list of India’s “most corrupt politicians” drawn up by Kejriwal in early 2014 — politicians the AAP leader said should not be allowed to contest elections.

Yet another name in this list was that of former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, who was also present on the dais with Kejriwal at the Kolkata rally.

In fact, several Congress politicians were on the list, including top leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The Congress, of course, did not take kindly to these charges.

“The list requires only two things. Pen and paper, and a subjective mind,” party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi had said at the time. “This Chief Minister had earlier showed that he had scant regard for rules. We are not a justice, jury and prosecutor rolled into one. We do not have to confess that we are anarchist as this Chief Minister seems to have done.”

Incidentally, Singhvi was one of the representatives from the Congress on the stage at the opposition rally.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) — a key cog in the grand opposition alliance machinery — hasn’t been spared Kejriwal’s wrath either. Besides including former party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in his “most corrupt” list, Kejriwal had directly targeted SP chief Akhilesh Yadav when the latter was chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Questioning the deteriorating law and order in the state, Kejriwal had tweeted in June 2013, “Will Akhilesh Yadav, CM of UP, do anything?”

Yadav was present on the stage as well Saturday, as was Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, whose father, former Bihar chief minister Lalu Yadav, has also been a target of Kejriwal’s attacks.

“Laloo (sic) made crores in fodder scam,” Kejriwal had tweeted in October 2013. “But no order for recovery of that money. Just 25 lakh fine and few years in jail. A sweet deal.”

In November 2015, after receiving flak for being seen hugging Lalu Yadav at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s swearing-in ceremony during Bihar’s brief mahagathbandhan stint, Kejriwal claimed it was the RJD leader who had “pulled and hugged” him. “We are against his record of corruption and we’ll always oppose it,” Kejriwal later clarified.

The questionable equations

Mayawati, the chief of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), yet another important element in attempts to stitch together an anti-BJP alliance, was also on Kejriwal’s list of “corrupt politicians”.

In fact, Mayawati has also taken on Kejriwal in the past. In January 2014, she slammed the AAP leader, alleging he was doing injustice to Dalits.

“Kejriwal has made Dalits of Delhi aam aadmi (commoners), like people from corporate groups and the upper class. This is not justice to Dalits,” she had said.

While Mayawati did not attend Saturday’s rally, she sent senior leader Satish Mishra to represent her party.

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh was also part of Saturday’s opposition show of strength.

In February 2015, after the AAP swept the Delhi assembly polls in its second election outing, Singh had said that, just like Modi, Kejriwal had “sold dreams” to people, adding that only time will tell if they would be fulfilled.

Saturday also saw Kejriwal with former union minister Arun Shourie, who didn’t have the best of things to say about the leader in the past.

At an event in December 2013, soon after the AAP emerged as the second-biggest party in its maiden Delhi assembly election, Shourie had termed Kejriwal’s policies “regressive”.


Also read: Will take time to decide on ‘mahagathbandhan’, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik says at Delhi rally


Changing dynamics

Kejriwal’s equations have been changing over the years with several of these politicians, particularly with him claiming to be targeted by Modi and the BJP, and many of these leaders supporting him.

Likewise, as other politicians have accused Modi of vendetta politics against them, the Delhi Chief Minister has spoken in their defence.

In the last few years, Kejriwal’s criticism and vehement attacks have been directed largely at Modi and other BJP leaders.

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8 COMMENTS

  1. How much money did he gain if he is really corrupt ? Come on guys ask yourself. HOw much exactly and who are his supporters like Adani or Reliance, who is it that is growing with him.

  2. Saw a very fine presentation by Shri Vinod Dua. He led us through a stack of resumes of some of the worthies on that flower bedecked stage in Calcutta. Traced their party hopping between the two national parties, generally landing on their feet, with the keys to a nice mansion in LBZ. By their standards, Shri Arvind Kejriwal is still learning the ropes.

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