Dear Arvind Kejriwal
I was part of the anti-corruption movement spearheaded by Anna, which led to your political birth on the national scene. To me, you and your movement was the ray of hope amongst dark clouds of corruption and apathy. Finally, we saw the nation’s collective consciousness being woken up by a frail old man, and a young ex-Government officer, who were both fed up with the system. Today, unfortunately, I am fed up with you.
You told us that you will never contest elections. You said with a straight face, out of your own free belief. We believed you. Later you joined politics. Nobody from your party asked you to apologise. They rationalised it by saying, maybe he needs to be in the system to change it.
You told us that you will never ally with Congress or BJP. We felt finally we have an alternative. Finally, you took the support of Congress to form your 1st Government. Nobody from your party asked you to apologise. They rationalised it by saying, maybe he needs to be in power to achieve his goals.
You told us Delhi would be your priority, you wanted to clean up Delhi. You quit and decided to go All India with hardly any base in any other state. You promised the moon to everyone, including Varanasi, from where you contested. You lost miserably. Nobody from your party asked you to apologise. They rationalised it by saying, maybe it was a tactical error, but your intention was good.
You kicked out the core members of AAP: Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav. We still remember the days when they all would be your close associates. Nobody from your party asked you to apologise. They rationalised it by saying, maybe the recent debacles of AAP were due to the presence of these multiple power centres. Maybe now there will be stability.
During the surgical strikes episode, you indirectly tried to raise doubts over the actions of the Indian army. This action of yours had the potential to demoralise our army. But nobody from your party asked you to apologise. They felt that this stand was necessary to counter Modi’s growing popularity.
You had openly attacked corrupt politicians of India like Laloo Prasad Yadav and Congress leaders. Eventually, you joined hands with them at some forum or the other. But nobody from your party asked you to apologise. They felt this was a political necessity. Even your well-educated supporters are doing full-time whataboutery. Is this the way you wanted to change politics?
To get support during Punjab elections, you tried to play caste politics. You flirted with Khalistanis, again, to gain traction. This was the exact type of politics the youth was fed up with, and expected you to stop. But nobody from your party asked you to apologise. They felt that it was needed to defeat larger enemies. Today you do not even remember Punjab or its problems.
Now soon after apologising to Majithia, you have now apologised to Gadkari and Kapil Sibal. These were the people who you had abused and attacked till no end to gain political mileage. Now, fearing adverse court rulings in defamation cases, you have gone back on your allegations and apologised to them. Instead of proving your claims with conviction, you have by default admitted that your charges had no basis.
Today, you represent all that you wanted to change in India politics. We have not seen your level of arrogance or narcissism in Indian politics for a long time. No wonder most of your IAC associates are no longer with you. Instead you are surrounded by Yes men and sycophants. You have normalised hooliganism in the name of activism. You have swiped your victim card so often that now you are bankrupt.
But the biggest problem is this: You have destroyed the hope in the minds of youngsters, who had hoped for a clean alternative in Indian politics. The fairy-tale story of a clean, IAS officer changing the Indian system has disinterested into a thug who calls IAS officers to his apartment at 12 am, only for him to surrounded and allegedly beaten up. No youth will ever trust an activist now. Every movement and leader will be looked at with the same disdain with which we see regular politicians with.
Along with your apologies to rival politicians, you owe an apology to the youth of India. For taking them for the worst possible ride. For showing them starry dreams of idealism while proceeding with gutter level politics. For directly or indirectly encouraging your supporters to also follow in your misguided footsteps. Apologise to us Arvind, who toiled in the IAC movement thinking that this could be the start of a new era.
Apologise!
