When Arvind Kejriwal burst on the Indian political scene, I was his supporter (though I was never with Anna Hazare).
I contributed funds to AAP, I went and saw the film ‘An Insignificant Man’ (indeed, I encouraged others to see it), I wrote in AAP’s favour on social media, and I continued to give him and his party the benefit of doubt, even when time after time, they committed what I consider moral crimes, though mostly, they were those of omission where AK and his party simply did not speak up on matters that would have needed him to take a stand: the distancing of Yogendra Yadav, Adv Prashant Bhushan, Adm Ramdas, the Delhi riots, Bilkis Bano, farmer protests, etc., and kept claiming the moral high-ground by seemingly talking solely of education and health, pollution and traffic, water and power, and other subjects that were of immediate public interest.
Indeed, as it has turned out, a lot of talk was just that: talk. Without really anything to show on the ground. Except advertisements and even bigger talk of even bigger game, like the one they played in Punjab and are attempting to in Gujarat.
AK and his party refused to open their mouths about minority persecution, Dalit atrocities, even state-sponsored violence and the miscarriage of justice right in their own backyards (or those backyards they wanted to make their own).
Their strategy was: ignore the uncomfortable and keep the focus on the universally accepted truisms, about which one can make sympathetic noises without actually achieving anything that may be auditable by a third party, all the while claiming that they can’t achieve much more because their hands are tied due to them not wielding absolute power.
By the way, this has been his political tactic since the very beginning, where, like the self-styled high priest of honesty and morality, Yudhishthira, aka Dharmaraj, had no compunctions deceiving his guru with the ‘Naro va kunjaro va’ utterance, something that led directly to his guru’s death. But then, in all fairness, Yudhishthira was a fictional character. Arvind and his acolytes are not.
And now, this. This is indeed the last straw. Not only is he and his party immoral, cowardly, and opportunist, all of which is par for the course for a political party anywhere in the world, but now he has shown himself to be a complete idiot openly pandering to the majoritarian bullshit. AK and AAP are now the complete opposite of what India needs. Or indeed stands for.
I hereby declare a complete break from AAP and its politics from this point onwards. I know I count among my dear and respected friends many who are supporters of this party. I have no quarrel with them. My love and respect for their opinions other than those about this party and its leader remains unchanged. But I must concede a huge error on my part for having spoken for this political outfit and ask my own conscience for forgiveness. This is not the political affiliation I want to swear allegiance to. And this is not what I stand for, or would want to stand for me.
I also declare, while we are at it, my support and allegiance to Rahul Gandhi, seemingly the sole sane man standing, and unmoved, today. He is my leader for the foreseeable future. The rest have feet of clay that are too easily out on display at the merest hint of challenge.
AK’s inspirations (as claimed by him and as per the photographs behind him):
1. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Rejected Hinduism and Hindu gods and converted with a million followers to Buddhism.
2. Bhagat Singh: Atheist. Communist.
Bhai, hypocrisy ki bhi hadd hoti hai!
