Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few days, you must be aware that the serial –“Dharna” -ist Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his clan comprising of the tainted Satyender Jain, Deput Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai have parked themselves in the Delhi LG ‘s office for an impromptu (read planned) dharna against their 3 key demands of
- LG to intervene and make the IAS Association end their strike
- Making the IAS take part in the meetings called by the Cabinet ministers of Delhi
- Allowing door to door ration delivery
The IAS association has squarely refuted all the claims made by Arvind Kejriwal and his coterie. By all standards, it looks like Kejriwal is lying about this alleged strike. Many known AAP titled Media personalities like Rajdeep, Sagarika, Nikhil Wagle etc, have not only been repeating his lie but have also been trying to give this a political spin and blame the Modi government for the strike by the IAS officers.
Even though the facts point in a completely different direction, let us assume for a moment that Kejriwal and band of dharnaists are telling the truth. That indeed the IAS officers are on a strike. The journalists who seem to be cosying up to him and partaking in his lie seem to be missing a key point, either deliberately, or by design.
This stalemate can end with a simple apology by Arvind Kejriwal to the IAS association and to the chief secretary for the assault gate that took place in the midnight in Kejriwal’s residence, in front of him, some time back. Even when his MLA was caught on camera instigating assaults on IAS officers, and Kejriwal had maintained a stoic silence.
No one is asking this basic question to Kejriwal, why is he not apologizing and ending the stalemate once and for all and proceed to deliver the so-called governance that he has been proposing to Delhi citizens. Delhi as it is undergoing various crisis’ of Water and Power. The reason is simple, Kejriwal after a long hiatus of blaming Modi government is back at it again to be able to regain the lost political limelight due to his poor performance both at Delhi governance and at the recent elections (where most of the AAP candidates lost their deposits). His plan is simple – create as much drama as needed, try and gain sympathy, gather media coverage as much as possible and try and play victim to cover up for the lack of governance that Delhi is suffering from.
If the media entities and journalists who are so enamoured with the dramatic CM had done their job with the honesty that their profession demands, the first line of argument that they would take is questioning Kejriwal on the assault, and then asking him why, instead of apologising for endorsing the assault of a government official, is he not tendering an unconditional apology.
With Central elections less than 10 months away this posturing is nothing but an attempt by him to position himself against Prime Minister Modi and be accepted as a tall leader (which hasn’t been happening despite his several attempts). AAP has already declared that they are placing candidates in all the three upcoming state elections and his latest “Dharna” is another juvenile attempt to gain some political mileage.
The IAS Association has snubbed Kejriwal and his coterie’s allegations by putting out a statement that the governance from the IAS standpoint is going on in BAU (Business as usual) mode. Their only demand is of assurance of their officer’ security and an apology to the association and the Chief Secretary, Simple these two would end the stalemate. It is indeed staggering that the Yes-Men who surround Kejriwal aren’t suggesting to him, that the IAS officers deserve this assurance after the brutal assault on the Chief Secretary.
Delhi waits for the usual suspects of the Media to shed their bias and ask this fundamental question of apology to Kejriwal. Or perhaps, that is that too much to expect from our Media.
Time will only tell, till then Delhi Suffers.
