Arvind ‘sorry’ Kejriwal could stump Narendra ‘achhe din’ Modi in political prowess. Know how

Arvind Kejriwal is a shrewder politician than many within the political brass would want to credit him with. If most of you are asking why, then the next question alone will answer all your doubts. How many people today are actually talking/discussing/debating the major rift in the Aam Aadmi Party and Kejriwal’s so-called Hitler-like attitude in ousting two stalwarts of the party, Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan? Exactly, none! This point alone was disrupting everything that AAP was trying to achieve politically and within the delhi government.

Now think about this. What was Kejriwal’s rationale of holding a farmer rally to protest the Land Acquisition Bill on a day when Prashant Bhushan was tearing into the party’s ‘high moral’ standards and dissecting the very basis on which AAP stands? Even as Kejriwal was readying for a ‘farmer’ rally, sans its ‘face of the farmers’ Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan was dropping one scandalous bomb after another.

Sample this: Prashant Bhushan alleged that AAP leader Ashish Khetan wrote ‘paid news’ in 2011 in favour of a company accused in the infamous 2G scam for Rs 2 cr. He alleged that Khetan was rewarded for his crony-capitalist behaviour by being appointed as the chairperson of the Delhi Dialogue Commission and a member of the NDC. Bhushan also accused AAP secretary and NDC member Pankaj Gupta of accepting ‘donation’ worth Rs 2 cr from shell companies without the required approval of the PAC.

Then there are allegations by Gajendra Singh’s brother yesterday that the farmer went to the rally only after speaking to deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia. Vijendra Singh, Gajendra’s brother spoke to the media, post Gajendra’s last rites and said, “Gajendra had gone to meet Manish Sisodia after they won the elections. Even yesterday, when I spoke to him, he said that he is going to a rally. Manish Sisodia knew him. Manish Sisodia has called him for the rally.” He even went onto say that thought they have suffered crop damages this year due to untimely rains, it wasn't bad enough for his brother to have taken his own life. Gajendra's sister in a different interview told channels and showed the difference in Gajendra's 'actual' handwriting and the one that appeared on the 'suicide note' that Gajendra apparently had written.

So, even as allegations flow thick and fast, could this just be a propaganda push gone wrong, a tragic incident or a deliberate, nevertheless extremely shocking stunt planned to take the attention off AAP’s internal ‘mess’? This, even as Kejriwal gave ‘soundbytes’ to most television channels this morning apologising and saying ‘sorry’ for the thousandth time for a political miss-step that he so often seems to have committed. He said, “I admit it was a mistake continuing with the rally and my speech even as Gajendra committed suicide.” Really Mr Kejriwal! You mean to say this realization dawned on you a full three days after the incident, while you ignited fire upon fire against the central government and the Delhi Police, showcasing their inept attitude towards a poor farmer who was trying to commit suicide in the full glare of several thousand people, which included you!

Well played indeed, because two things have happened in the political sphere as a result of Kejriwal’s actions. One, Narendra Modi and his government for the time being will have to put its ambitious land bill in the back burner (though it doesn’t make the slightest difference to AAP and its political mantras, and I am not even getting into the debate of whether the land bill is pro or against farmers). Modi, in fact has already sought suggestions from all political parties to better the ‘farmer’s lives’. Second, the entire nation’s media and its citizens are now focusing their energies away from ‘AAP’s internal ‘dramatics’ and actually getting down to discussing the serious issues of the plight of the farmers and their future in a nation where they form over 67% of the population.

However, what Kejriwal will need to do now is think very seriously over how many times he can ‘use’ the ‘sorry tactic’ to score a political point to his advantage. Because, Mr Kejriwal, it is this very public that you have been enticing with the shortcomings of the other governments that will turn around and ask you about where you fell short. Because if the public is ‘accepting’, it is also very ‘unforgiving’ if you take it for a ride! Now, you of all people would surely understand that very well, won’t you?