The Aam Aadmi Party, or AAP, is a political party founded by Arvind Kejriwal in 2012. It was born out of a civil society movement — Indian Against Corruption — that received massive popular support in 2011-12 after public anger over corruption charges on the then Congress-led UPA government.
It won its first elections in Delhi in 2013, and came to power with outside support from the Congress. But the government lasted only 49 days as Kejriwal resigned since he was unable to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi Assembly. AAP returned to power in 2015, winning an overwhelming 67 out of 70 seats in the Delhi Legislative Assembly. Under Kejriwal’s leadership, the government focused on addressing key urban issues like inflation, water, electricity bills, and public services, with a promise of free water and electricity for residents. AAP’s welfare schemes included initiatives like Mohalla Clinics for healthcare and expanding the Delhi Metro network. These initiatives garnered significant praise and boosted the party’s popularity.
However, AAP’s relationship with the central government, led by the BJP, has been marked by ongoing tensions, especially regarding control over the Delhi Police and other administrative matters. The party has frequently clashed with the Lieutenant Governor (L-G), who is appointed by the central government.
One of the biggest controversies surrounding the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in recent years has been the corruption charges linked to the 2021-22 Delhi excise policy. Several key AAP leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, have been accused of irregularities in the policy, which allegedly favored liquor suppliers. The case led to their arrests by central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Convener Arvind Kejriwal was also jailed in connection with the case. After being granted bail, Kejriwal stepped down as Chief Minister, with Atishi taking over the role.
History repeats for those who do not learn from the past.kejriwal is no exception.
Unfortunately with all his smartness he is playing into BJP communal politics.
He should have been boots on ground on day 2 of riots.He should have rejected fir plea on kanhiah and friends. Costly mistakes,hope he will learn and rectify, before it’s too late.
I think the author would have been happy with Kejriwal if he had specifically targetted Hindu rioters only. She conveniently misses Godhra train burning as well as people like Tahir Hussian whose preparations show that riots were a planned affair by anti-CAA lot who expected Kejriwal to specifically aid them. The author is not at all concerned about citizens, only about Muslims as others are Wajib-ul-Qatl.
Shekhar Gupta is good and objective but ThePrint has a horrible and very one-sided second line of journalists and analysts.
I agree
Completely agree..
“why vote for Kejriwal at all? What is he doing differently from the BJP? ”
Kejriwal is the only mainstream politician in India whose campaign focuses on education and health. The number of Indians who die due to inadequate health care is thousands of times more than the number of Indians who die in riots. Education and health are not only worthy ends in themselves but also help develop human capital, which in turn is the best tool to ensure economic development. Economic development in turn leads to true secularisation i.e. de-emphasis of religion in public life. How many riots have occurred in developed countries? The religious demographic in South Korea changed completely post WW2 but there were no major social disruptions.
The vitriolic of BJP has been accepted by masses because of the failed developmental model of Congress. The antidote to the religious hatred and polarisation is development of human capital not abuse of BJP and chanting secularism as a mantra. Kejriwal is trying to develop human capital. How successful he is or whether his education and health strategies are well-developed or not is another question.
Exactly,sir.It is anti Hindu,anti Modi and pro Muslim so also it’s contributors. Gupta seems to be in their clutches, some how.
I have nothing with Kejriwal what he has done for Delhi is good, people are happy(though he talks about he is the only one that can develop the country, which is not true)
Failed development model? I see, so what has BJP done to develop India. As you know to much of “History” you would know that Dr. Manmohan Singh saved india from Economic crisis by his budget, when he was in power he signed a nuclear deal with US, promoted girl education infact did things to implement the right to education on a major scale. And many more
But what has bjp done by their so called “extraordinary budjet”? Nothing. The economic growth slowed down. And talking about capitalism, who is benefited by it. Yes, the rich. (The same way that happened in mexico in the past).
Talking about secularism, Secularism is also achieved by stopping the people with non-secular ideas. And who has shown this non-secular ideology? yes the current government.
May it be CAA or triple talak. (triple talak is a Muslim’s religious belief and it is stated in their holy book too, so interfering with other religious beliefs is not the right way unless and until the Indian chief incharge(priest) of that religion wants a change)
Also this protest on CAA that is going on also violates Article 14 of the Fundamental rights.
To summarise my point, yes the human capital is the only way to stop the riots, as you can see before 2014 there wasn’t any violence on religious grounds but after 2014 these violence increased and still increasing so what does this tell us about the relation between ruling party and human capital (human capital of the ruling party)? The proportion between them is vast. Hence the only way to stop these violence is if the people who support non-secular ideas are dethroned.
Muslim Muslim Muslim Muslim Muslim Muslim Muslim Muslim Muslim Muslim Muslim Muslim Muslim Muslim Muslim Muslim …….but Hindus and BJP must be secular.
Keep walking Zainab (arab name, not even Indian) !!
How is Zainab less Indian than Peter or Shah?
It is arab name for sure.
The leading party should be secular. The BJP member, now CM of UP said things like “Hindus and Muslims can’t coexist” “ if you kill 1 of us we will kill 100 of them”. These are not the statement to be made by a party which is ruling India. Thus promoting violence on religious grounds. Secularism as stated in the the Preamble should be followed.
1. If it is said that interests of the Muslim community in our country must be protected, question is whose responsibility is it? I say that let everyone be clear about a basic truth, which is that secularism will succeed in our country only by protecting interests of all communities and not by appeasing the minority vote banks. 2. If what author of this article says is true, it is obvious that our political leadership cannot protect interest of the vast number of poor Muslims because this section of our society has been used by greedy politicians in vote-bank politics. 3. No big research is required to support what I have said. Just a cursory glance at the economic conditions of the huge number of poor Muslims in States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, etc., is good enough to prove my statement. 4. I think that our political leaders, irrespective of their political affiliation, have to ensure that all the poor whether Hindus, Muslims, or of other religion, get equal opportunities to increase income and thus make economic/social progress. That will make our society more equitable. 5. My incidental observation is that the Muslim leadership in India has vested interest in ensuring that all poor Muslims, particularly women are not exposed to modern education and democratic practices. While on one hand, the poor in Muslim community have remained poor and uneducated, on the other hand Muslim leaders belonging to Congress and regional parties like BSP, SP, JD(S), NCP, etc., have amassed wealth. This is a very unhappy scenario which must be challenged by the Muslim community.
We are Indians and we all are brothers and sisters.
Please don’t divide us on basis of colour, caste etc. Killing one another is killing your own brother and sisters, if anybody doubt on this than check your DNA we are from one family. We must unite and work towards the progress of our country and keep the caste and religion upto person level only.
Arvind Kejriwal is the best for me and he will he can bring peace in this world It you educated people do favour to Arvind Kejriwal
Arvind Kejriwal is the messenger for humanity
He promote love not hate like BJP
Amit Shah is tadipar you all know
BJP is using religion and few are enjoying the cake
Once you have any awareness about riot you will get better knowledge of the riot
You (what name to be given)all are psychopath who have Modi phobia.you people(extremist,news people, fundamentalists, leftist)are exposed&your funds source are stopped after Modi came to power,so your ho-hallah is genuine,but why do you try to indulge Kejriwal (who is doing some right steps due to blessings of’ Bajrangbli’)in your gameplan.so avoid creating consipiracy bcos this will not help in removing Modi sarkar
Poll after violence failures sign and symbols created heaven became Hill only purpose of Mafia Raj central politics But before whenever goes yours Play ? reports wrosted proforma or Best proforma not only Capital NCP is ? reset. Later and ? whole nation occupied thosed Regional Party accept Central… Monopoly Politics!!! ?
Everything has reaction. If you ignore one side, other side will either be up or down. You are no different from communal. BJP can’t be communal.
Everybody from different political parties seem convinced that the movement against CAA along with NPR and NRC was planned by external forces with the help of internal forces inimical to security and integrity of India. It was clearly meant to create a mass civil disobedience all over the country by initially putting forth ladies and children holding national flag and Constitution in their hands and then escalating it to higher level eventually leading to paralysis of Central government. In the process, if violence occurs somewhere, so much the better for the cause. The plan was to show the world how much right wing and fascist the Modi government is and that it needs to be thrown out in the interest of Indian democracy.
No sane person will find anything objectionable and adversely affecting any Indian citizen in CAA. Therefore, beyond lending initial token support to it, Congress or TMC or other parties withdrew from the scene. Kejriwal is as good a (or even a better) politician than those who he was supposed to replace and he played perfectly by that logic and chanted Hanuman Chalisa.
Besides, it is a matter of serious concern that say starting from Kanahiya Kumar’s JNU event in 2016 till 2020, many incidents have repeatedly occurred in and around Delhi where suddenly a few anti national elements gather from nowhere, create mayhem and vanish. In the national capital, around a few kilometers away from the seat of Central government, occurrence of such incidents regularly indicates that intelligence is failing badly. Amit Shah needs to sort this out quickly; otherwise the country may have to pay very heavily for this lapses.
So the issue is much deeper and sinister than what Zainab is trying to portray.
Secular is not appeasement politics..secular means treating all religions equally .If you promote appeasement to seek votes it brings hatread between communities.Here too you forgot to highlight tahir hussain an AAP..mla..who was charged with murder of Ankit sharma.an IB official. .Hatread promotes violence .
No hopes. We are Indians.
Politics, thy other name is opportunism. Every one seems to have played his/her assigned role during the recent Delhi riots. While these riots would always be remembered more as the key administrative failure of both the Delhi govt and the Centre but it’s no use crying over the split milk now. However notwithstanding the ongoing blame games, the entire matter ought to be thoroughly investigated into by the CBI within a stipulated time frame instead of the local police for some obvious reasons. Let the cat be out of the bag and all those found guilty of not only igniting these most condemable riots but adding more fuel to the fire thereto should also be handed out some exemplary punishment. For God’s sake, no self serving cover up and no politically convenient victimisation of any one.
We do not expect impartial journalism from many like you. Hope your all get well soon.
Arvind Kejriwal’s bad days have just started. First he did nothing to during the riots and secondly, he sold out Kanhaiya Kumar in a false case after winning elections. If he had to do it before elections, he knew that AAP wud never win in Delhi. Basically he played safe and that is called opportunist politics. Not good for his image.
I had lot of expectations from Mr Kejriwal , but his indifference towards Delhi riots and contradictory and unethical stand in Kahaniya’s case, simply indicate that he is no longer a sympathiser of humanity and has preferred to become unprincipled politician like others. Supply of free water and electricity do not absolve him from his moral responsibilities.
Kejriwal also know that he can not get succeed for third term and there is no point to take any path which is criticised by central authority Hence it is better to work along with their line and loot the exchequer keep happy to front line leaders of his party
Now it has become very clear that Kejriwal is a pakka RSS man.muslim community should realise at least now that all are of the same mentality as BJP.cannot be believed to anybody.
He shouldn’t have increased the free money given to your stupid mosque imams. Just have some common sense idiot
Its very sad that a platform like telegram you are using for your hypocrisy. You will be a muslim only and cant be a human being. I tell u, rioters have no religion. Dont try to be a scapegoat. You can’t see anything beyond your kaum and urself. That’s the only thing people like you know. Scholars like you, igniting hatred in every society. Common people has nothing to do with religion or caste. They just follow society what you make.
Dear zainab.
Its very sad that a platform like telegram you are using for your hypocrisy. You will be a muslim only and cant be a human being. I tell u, rioters have no religion. Dont try to be a scapegoat. You can’t see anything beyond your kaum and urself. That’s the only thing people like you know. Scholars like you, igniting hatred in every society. Common people has nothing to do with religion or caste. They just follow society what you make.
Give every thing under him for one day then he can show you what is AAP party.
Kejriwal is no alternative to Congress. He did nothing for Muslims, who voted en mass for him. You did not speak about riot victims, which included both Hindus and Muslims. You conveniently forgot Tahir Husain and his elaborate riot preparations.
You are issuing threat to Kejriwal that support rioters (Muslims) otherwise you will not get muslim votes.
These lines echo your communal approach and you should be ashamed of your hypocracy.
it-cell out in numbers to try and say that Hindus suffered as much as Muslims -that is rot! you might have hidden the truth in remote Gujarat but this was Delhi.
According to the author, it is not clear what should Kejriwal have done? Doing anything might have either emboldened Tahir Hussains for for more actions, or germinated more Tahir Hussains out of spite. The police is not under his control and workers are volunteers, not a regiment which can march to riot hit places to placate people at their peril. Tolerance of Shaheen bagh also showed that he does not want to meddle into somethings which is not in his polity. And, I would opine he has done the right thing by drinking politics from religion.
Very truly said. The Delhi police is not under Kejruwal . So what did the author expected from Kejriwal, I wonder.
i read the article first and then looked at name of the writer -no wonder there was a communal bias
Yes. All contributors to the print pro Muslim anti Hindu and anti Modi.
You have asked too much, Zainab
ARVIND KEJRIWAL PLAN B OF RSS – HE SURRENDERED DURING LOKSABAH ELECTION FOR BJP AND RSS NEED HIM IN PICTURE-AND WHERE EVER ANY VOTERS ANGER AGAINST BJP HE WILL BE ABLE TO SPLIT ANTI BJP MOMENTUM -IT DISTRACTING PEOPLES’ ATTENTION FROM CONGRESS PARTY
RSS is Indian culture whereas this zainab is arabi name and arabi follower, nothing to do with India.
what a rubbish article from this biased Muslim journalist
Zainabji, you are doing a perfect job serving as a mask of the islamists. The islamist plot is very clear. First unleash the women and children to block the roads hoping to provoke a police reaction from the government. When that did not work, the islamists unleashed the violent mobs on Hindus on the day Trump landed, hoping for full blown communal riots. Your mind is so grotesquely perverted with hate that you do not see the islamist plot unfolding in front of you, but try to shift the blame elsewhere. You and your ilk are worse than the rioters on the street. You know what you are doing.
Stop this drama of accusing people of blocking the roads. It was the Delhi and UP police who blocked the roads so that the protestors could be blamed. Hindutva mobs were escorted by the Delhi police into the streets from parts of UP. Police are the main culprits behind the massacre sponspered by the BJP who themselves orchestrated the anti-Muslim riots and are now blaming Muslims for it.
Kejriwal is a lonely king without warriors soldiers time protect his people he is only a administrator of Delhi does not have police men under his control. He can’t command even a constable as it is under home minister control rest of the story you know
Both Hindus and Muslims died in the riots and even Muslim politicians like Tahir Hussain were seen organising riots . but the author is silent about the Muslims. Muslims started Godhra train burning but she accuses Modi of Gujarat. Had there been no Godhra, there would be no riots either. Let me remind her Muslims also started Great Calcutta Killings in 1946.
Why should only Hindus should carry the burden of ‘secularism’ and Muslims should always be Muslims only?
There is always a lesson of a lifetime to learn in every betrayal.’
–Edmond Mbiaka
I find your headline and assumptive reasoning spectacularly “non secular”. Did Kejriwal let the Muslims down? Or is it that he let the citizens of Delhi down? It is the latter – is it not? Why single out “Muslims need saving?” By doing this you strengthen the hands of people who have called out this apparent hypocrisy in the establishment since 1947.
Indians need saving – Indians of all hues, caste, religion, creed et al need saving from the 2 headed monster that is the BJP – not just Muslims who voted for AAP overwhelmingly. And by using the voting logic – you verily underline the fact that the Muslim community is indeed a political entity which can readily be accessed by political parties to win elections and a entity that is willing to trade its votes for favorable decisions benefitting themselves over and above the national interest. Where then is the spirit of shared responsibility, democracy and secularism?
The use and throw of Anna Hazare, the tacit tie up with Congress in his first stint, the sacking of Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav etc etc was not enough for Smt Sikander to open her eyes. It has taken 42 deaths for her to finally realise that Shri Kejriwal has only a “I, me, mine” agenda. I wonder how such people become journalists.
I feel deep pain when I look at Mr Kejriwal. During the election campaign, when pragmatism, even opportunism, scores over idealism, one understood his need to avoid emotive issues, which in any case lay outside his constitutional powers. However, the popularly elected CM – by a landslide, for a second / third term – has let down the citizens of Delhi. As the list of victims shows, that includes both Hindus and Muslims. How much informal / moral influence he has over the LG and CP, one cannot judge. Were they completely unresponsive to his pleas for effective intervention, he and his entire army of AAP leaders and party workers should have fanned out over the city, standing / squatting between traumatised victims and attackers. Acted as a shield, left no one in any doubt where their sympathies and duty lay. Just another politician, eyeing the main chance. No one should be taken in by his sweater or muffler.