5 Questions to Arvind Kejriwal

The problem with a person who has branded himself as non-corruptible is that they cannot digest actions against him or his own people on charges of corruption. Such people are in a continuous self-praising mode. When somebody hurts their pride they almost scream against that and throw foul language, absurd arguments, etc…

There are many many such people in Indian politics, also in the BJP, but the most prominent name still remains Mr. Arvind Kejriwal.

The arguments of Kejriwal almost resemble the famous Deewar dialogue of the great Amitabh Bachchan: "Jao pehle us aadmi ka sign lekar aao jisne mere haath par ye likh diya tha…."

If CBI or for that matte any police department had to go by that logic, none of the accused in any scam, irregularities or crimes will ever be caught. Because then everyone will start shouting the same dialogue.

The anger of Kejriwal is understandable. Particularly when his one of the trusted lieutenants is questioned. But then he also should remember that in past 6 months his other 4 trusted people have been under scanner.

Once the CBI got raided 14 places in the NCR and Uttar Pradesh, a clearly unhappy Kejriwal said if CBI had to lay hands on his principal secretary Rajendra Kumar, the investigative agency should first nab ministers in the earlier Sheila Dikshit government.

Not stopping there Kejriwal went ahead to say "I will send my son to jail even, if there is evidence of wrongdoing against him."

His other argument is that CBI should have informed him and he would have acted.

1.  Does Kejriwal have a problem with CBI acting without informing him or on  the complete action at all?

2.    Is he angry that he did not get a chance to show to people of Delhi that he  acted on another of his ministers?

3.  Does that mean that every action against his own people will be taken by  Kejriwal himself?

4.     Does it not mean that in a sense CBI starts to report to him?

5.  Does it not mean that Kejriwal is contradicting his own statement that investigating agencies should be autonomous?

In this case, he made accusations against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, attributing CBI raids to search for files on Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA), which the senior BJP leader headed for decades. It is no secret that after he became chief minister this year, Kejriwal has been very keen to pursue the DDCA case on the basis of accusations of wrongdoing made by two former Test cricketers from Delhi and some other related functionaries. Most information available is already with Kejriwal and yet, no one is sure of the merit of accusations against DDCA nor has any evidence cropped up against Jaitley but that’s how Kejriwal functions. Make big bang charges against the high and mighty, hit the headlines and let it sink in public perception through corner talks at various levels. That is what he did in 2014 general elections when he stood against Modi. He was sure he will lose but he surely latched on the publicity of Modi. He just tried to be with a big shark fish and gathered small bits of food which fell down from the shark’s mouth.

In this case also, he didn’t elaborate what possibly could be the case against Jaitley other than saying CBI’s real motive was to find DDCA files.

In May 2015, Kejriwal had accused the then Delhi acting chief secretary Shakuntala Gamlin, a senior woman IAS officer, of lobbying for private electricity companies, misconduct and insinuating corruption. But with passage of time, once she relinquished the post of chief secretary, nobody heard of any follow up action against her.

Kejriwal’s accusation against Jaitley or attaching the CBI raids with a particular motive has one major flaw. The CBI couldn’t have found the DDCA file even if such file existed as in his own words no file stays in his office for more than 10-15 days!!! Judged against that claim, Kejriwal's barrage of charge against the CBI and the Union finance minister raises more questions than Its surprising that the chief minister himself stands for an officer in his government against whom CBI conducted raids only hours ago. This is particularly surprising when Kejriwal is keen to bring a law which can arrest Prime Minister without anybody’s consent!!! Is Kejriwal overreacting and putting his own reputation in the line just as he did during the arrest of his former law minister Jitender Singh Tomar by Delhi Police in the fake degree case? Or is he fearing that the searches might lead to something else, which could trouble him in future?

The case is so sensitive that without having a concrete ad substantial lead, the CBI won’t lay their hands on the principal secretary to the Delhi chief minister and conduct raids at his office in the chief minister’s. No government would want to risk it, that too when Parliament session is on. Hence there is a possibility that Kejriwal is shouting due to fear of something coming out which is uncomfortable for him.

Now that the raids have happened, all connected parties, either the CBI and the Modi government or Kejriwal and AAP will have cow dung on their face and no ground to stand as more details would emerge. Common sense says that CBI must have done its homework well, otherwise it will have to lot of explaining to its political fraternity. If the agency failed to do so, it should prepare itself to face the wrath of the courts and also to take further beating of its image in public perception and would make a clear image of a caged parrot. As of now, there is simply too much at stake for the “premier” investigative agency. Perhaps Kejriwal and his colleagues should have shown some patience and waited for contradicting evidence to surface before blazing all guns against the CBI and Modi-led government at the Centre.

It is not at all surprising that the Kejriwal defended his use of un-parliamentary language. He is a habitual offender in that sense. The language only suggests that Kejriwal has transformed himself into a hardcore politician who is now aware how to swing an adversarial situation into a rhetorical advantage.

Despite the political acumen that the Delhi chief minister gathered in such a short spell of time, there is something he should put his thoughts to. Many of those whom he entrusted, Jitendra Singh Tomar, Somnath Bharti, Rakhi Birla - all have found themselves in the wrong side of the law. This time, the chief minister has again vouched for another of his trusted lieutenants to the extent that he declared a virtual war against the Prime Minister's Office. One can only hope that Rajendra Kumar’s name does not end up clubbed with the names just mentioned. Finally, when a person or a party stands on ideology of being un-corruptible and being clean, the party has to go through such “agnipariksha”. Kejriwal could have hit a political sixer had he given a statement to support CBI action and was ready to provide any help to CBI to unearth any wrong doings. Instead he chose to oppose which has led people to speculate “Is there something to hide Mr. Kejriwal?”