As India gets drenched in the festival of colors, there are many news updates about politicians from various parties celebrating Holi. But there is a politician in India who has hardly played colours on the occasion of Holi every year since 2017. Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has once again made it to the news for not celebrating Holi in 2023, this time for yet another new reason.
Arvind Kejriwal is not celebrating Holi in 2023 because of the arrest of his accomplices Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain in corruption cases. He instead visited Rajghat to pay his tributes to MK Gandhi, and then performed a 7-hour meditation starting from 10 AM today, to “pray for the party.” In a video message released on Tuesday, Kejriwal said that the country’s situation is worrying and therefore he will pray for the country instead of celebrating Holi.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal pays tribute at the Rajghat. He had announced yesterday that he will meditate today and not celebrate Holi in wake of the arrests of party’s leaders Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia.
— ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2023
(Pic: CM Arvind Kejriwal’s office) pic.twitter.com/MsGA4Op9zF
However, this is not the first time that Arvind Kejriwal is not celebrating Holi. He has kept himself away from playing with colours since 2017. Every year, he has cited new reasons for not celebrating Holi.
Twitter handle The Skin Doctor has mentioned how Kejriwal has not celebrated Holi every year for the last several years. It said in a tweet, “He as such hasn’t been playing Holi since 2018 for some reason or the other, sometimes genuine, sometimes not so. This time also he didn’t want to play, a blessing in disguise is Sisodia’s arrest, gave him a worthy excuse to avoid.”
He as such hasn’t been playing Holi since 2018 for some reason or the other, sometimes genuine, sometimes not so. This time also he didn’t want to play, blessing in disguise is Sisodia’s arrest, gave him a worthy excuse to avoid. pic.twitter.com/hJUwieDewf
— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) March 8, 2023
In 2018, Holi was celebrated on 2nd March. In that year, Arvind Kejriwal did not celebrate Holi in support of traders. The Delhi Development Authorities were sealing certain businesses in some areas of Delhi according to the development plans of those areas. Arvind Kejriwal announced that he would not celebrate Holi because he wanted to support the traders affected by the decisions of the DDA. However, traders had termed this as “natak-baazi”, saying this was a gimmick to hide the failures of the govt to fulfil election promises.
In 2019, Holi was celebrated on the 21st of March. Arvind Kejriwal again did not celebrate Holi this year. He declared that he would not celebrate Holi as a mark of respect for the martyrs of the Pulwama terror attack. On 14th February 2019, a CRPF convoy was attacked by an Islamist terrorist of Jaish-e-Mohammad claiming the lives of more than 40 CRPF jawans.
The next Holi was celebrated on 10th March 2020. It was almost a fortnight after the anti-Hindu Delhi riots that took place on 24th February 2020. That time, Arvind Kejriwal said that he would not celebrate Holi in wake of communal violence in northeast Delhi.
The next year, Holi was celebrated on 29th March 2021. It was the time during which the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic hit India. At that time, Arvind Kejriwal said that because of the increasing number of cases of coronavirus disease, he would not be celebrating Holi.
In 2022, Holi was celebrated on the 18th of March. Aam Aadmi Party’s government was formed in Punjab and Bhagwant Mann was sworn in as the chief minister of the border state on 16th March 2022. Though Arvind Kejriwal did not make any announcement regarding celebrating or not celebrating the festival, there is no media report suggesting that he celebrated Holi last year.
आज केजरीवाल जी देश के लिए प्रार्थना करेंगे।
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) March 8, 2023
10 बजे से शाम 5 बजे तक 7 घंटे लगातार ध्यान करेंगे।
“School-Hospital बनाने वालों को प्रधान मंत्री जेल भेज रहे हैं,
खरबों लूटने वालों को Modi जी गले लगा रहे हैं।
देश की स्थिति को लेकर चिंतित हूँ” – CM @ArvindKejriwal 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/kI3e7yHicq
In 2023, he is not celebrating Holi because his close associate and former deputy chief minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia, and another minister in his cabinet Satyedra Jain both are arrested. Arvind Kejriwal was seen meditating in the photos shared on social media. In this way, Arvind Kejriwal has not celebrated Holi since 2018.
