NEW DELHI: Everyone remembers how some AAP volunteers had created ruckus in a government hospital during the 49-days rule of Arvind Kejriwal last year. Apart from acting like supervisors, they even ordered a doctor to give drugs to a patient according to their own understanding of the disease.
It appears that the same menace of mob justice and vigilantism is all set to return in the second innings of AAP rule in Delhi. With the party getting an unprecedented mandate, the “volunteers” are set to return as “guiding forces” to correct government functioning, and with a vengeance.
According to a report published in Amar Ujala, an AAP volunteer was allowed to attend a meeting of Ministry of Social Justice. The volunteer was included as an “expert” in the meeting by the Minister.
This “expert” soon started throwing around his weight and is reported to have misbehaved with a lady IAS officer working in the Women and Child Development department of the Ministry.
According to reports confirmed by senior IAS officers, the AAP volunteer interrupted the lady officer in the middle of her presentation and asked her not to behave like a “RSS ki masterni” (a teacher owing allegiance to RSS).
The AAP volunteer’s insinuation of the lady officer owing allegiance to RSS instead of the government infuriated her. She immediately protested against the comment in the meeting. She told the Minister that she won’t be able to work if she was subjected to such humiliation by people who were not even part of the government.
Reports say that the situation was brought under control by the Minister before it could turn ugly, but it gave a glimpse of what the government officers could expect in coming days – AAP volunteers acting as extra-constitutional authorities who would demand the government officers to work the way they want.
Apart from the risk of vigilantism, the incident also shows that in the second innings, AAP has chosen “experts” with an ideological preference as part of a well thought strategy.
Political analysts believe that AAP has chosen anti-RSS volunteers so that they get support of mainstream media, which had by and large criticized AAP for the hospital ruckus and vigilantism by ex-Minister Somnath Bharti. AAP hopes that media will not criticize the vigilantism if the government officers are painted as RSS agents.
It doesn’t seem to have worked in the first instance. At least one newspaper has reported it.
