Barely weeks and several antics later, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his motley band of Merry Men seem to have pressed the eject button, or opted for escape velocity, in the words of a leading Prime Ministerial hopeful who failed to make his party’s nomination grade. With the Supreme Court agreeing to hear (on Friday, January 24) a public interest petition against the stunning anarchy unleashed on the streets of the National Capital, forcing the shutdown of vital roads for the second day, in addition to four crucial metro stations, one hopes that Lt Governor Najeeb Jung is carefully monitoring the complete failure of governance under Constitutional norms, in the capital.
For the anarchists of the Aam Aadmi Party, it has been a short walk from the original claim of “protests can’t help; we need to form the Government” to “Government can’t help; we need to stage the protest”. And so they are back to doing what they do best – rabble rousing, with a pre-planned calibrated escalation of lawlessness. Thus, the original solitary protest by the Chief Minister to demand the sack (or transfer) of some police officers to take the heat off a failed vigilante operation by his Law Minister, with ordinary citizens told to remain at home, quickly became an illegal sit-in outside Rail Bhavan after the Police imposed Section 144 CrPC to prevent his dharma outside the North Block office of Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.
Far from being ashamed at the rapid expose of the party’s claim that the Uganda High Commission had approached the Delhi Government to help in the matter of trafficking of women, the party lashed out at the Union Home Minister, the Congress and the BJP for being hand-in-glove in the alleged crimes it was seeking to expose. With hindsight, it is clear that Arvind Kejriwal always intended to escalate matters to grab eyeballs; he has already caught the attention of the western media. Thus, predictably, he invited the public (read party workers) to join the sit-in with him. He then threatened to stretch the dharna for 10 days – which he now says means indefinitely (another calibrated escalation of provocation) – and to upstage the Republic Day celebrations by flooding Rajpath with his army of volunteers, and thus make the country an international laughing stock. Even worse is his call to members of the Delhi Police to break the law and join his so-called dharna, the objective of which is to place the Police under a nihilist set up like the Aam Aadmi Party!
Republic Day, the tradition of showcasing our military might and honouring the sacrifices of our officers and men in uniform, is sacrosanct in itself. But this year’s guest, slated to be the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is a major foreign policy initiative of Manmohan Singh and continues the ‘Look East’ policy of former Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee. India cannot afford to be embarrassed on this occasion. Doubtless the Centre is monitoring the situation closely. Kejriwal has not just extended his brief as Chief Minister of Delhi; he has violated it and demeaned the office of Chief Minister by disrespecting his oath of Office. A man who failed to conduct a simple janta durbar and actually address the problems of those who came to him for redressal of multiple grievances, but enjoys collecting a mob and rousing emotions is a dangerous demagogue who cannot be allowed to hold a Constitutional post. The citizens of Delhi trusted his promise to address the institutional malaise in the city, but he has broken their trust and belied their hopes.
Far from seeking an official accommodation for him, the authorities should think in terms of banishing him back to the outskirts of the city from whence he came. By knowingly violating laws and Constitutional propriety, Kejriwal and his Cabinet have no right to remain in office; they should admit their failure to govern, and quit, instead of instigating violence and mayhem on the streets of the Capital. Already, a policeman has been injured and a woman journalist heckled and slapped. This is an appropriate occasion to ask the Election Commission to investigate the high decibel membership drive of the AAP, and also the source of funds that flow limitlessly into its coffers. The writer was first alerted to the possibility of a scam when someone residing in the United States sent an email stating that he had received (unsolicited) membership of the AAP and had even been assigned a membership number! He said this could explain the mystery of the speed with which the AAP enrolled one crore members – they were simply drafting everyone as members.
Thus, this gentleman received a note saying,
Dear xxx.
Welcome to Aam Aadmi Party. Your Membership Number is 9001764694. We are delighted to have you become a part of our family. With your support, we will be able to change the Indian politics for the better. Together, we will make the dream of a corruption free country a reality.
As a proud AAP member, we would like your help in growing the party further. You can help in the following ways.
1. Ask your friends, family members and loved ones to join AAP. The strength of the Aam Aadmi is in numbers, and we need all good people to Join AAP.
2. You can help spread the message of AAP on social media. Join our facebook page or follow us on twitter to spread our message widely.
3. Visit our website to know more about our vision, latest news & updates etc.
Once again, thank you becoming a part of the AAP family. We look forward to your continued support.
Best Regards,
AAP
It is obvious that the AAP has out-sourced its membership drive to some firm, in the manner in which politicians pay (or so it is alleged) to have the tribe of their Twitter followers increased. Someone must have got bored looking for actual persons to enroll, and thus we have from Hyderabad district, Mr Small Donkey, Father’s name: Big Donkey, Age 22 years; Address: 420 Dhobi ka Ghat (what else could it be?), Mobile number 4204204200, email id – donkeyji@gmail.com. The Membership number is 9001801119, dated 20 January 2014.
As it that is not bad enough, there is a 90-year old Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Father’s Name: Krishna Bihari Vajpayee; Address: 6-A Krishna Menon Marg, Delhi. This makes it clear that it is our former Prime Minister, who, as everyone knows, is a respected member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He has been allotted Membership Number 9001800951. To top it all, there is one Mr Jawaharlal Nehru, son of Motilal Nehru, from Phulpur, Allahabad, UP. This is beyond a joke.
But the moot point is that given the questionable membership enrollment, can the mysterious manner in which the coffers of the party fill up, always matching the stated target within days, while more established parties struggle to raise money, be beyond reproach? Recall the furore when Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati claimed that her jaw-dropping wealth was the gift of ordinary persons who loved and admired her.
Recall the furore when the BJP put a small price tag of Rs 5 per person on those who wanted to attend Narendra Modi’s rallies. For BJP this was only a way of gauging the public response to its Prime Ministerial candidate, rather than a fund-raising exercise. Yet no one has wondered how AAP announces a target, meets it in record time, and then actually requests the public to stop sending money!
Fund raising is no joke, and even Ramlila donations are not collected with such alacrity. Just as there is more to AAP’s agenda than meets the eye, there is more to its fund-raising agility than the sudden generosity of its supposed middle class admirers.
Niticentral.com, 21 January 2014
http://www.niticentral.com/2014/01/21/aaps-reign-forces-delhi-into-a-free-fall-181796.html
