Commitment to an issue is a virtue in politics, it certainly is something that gets votes. But that is one virtue sadly lacking in Arvind Kejriwal, the national convenor of the freshly minted somewhat pretentiously named Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). When he started his agitation under the umbrella of Anna Hazare, his mantra was that he would fight for the Lokpal bill. We have not heard much about that in recent times. Then came allegations against several politicians, most of them with little evidence. As soon as the anniversary of 26/11 took place, out came Mr Kejriwal with a commando who had not got his dues.
These are all laudable gestures, but a political party needs to go beyond kneejerk reactions to events. It is passing strange in the first place that after having expressed such disdain for politics, Mr Kejriwal has joined the same system. We had hoped that he would go beyond the politics of allegations and come up with a positive agenda. But so far, we have not seen any indication that Mr Kejriwal has any concrete agenda. It would be interesting to know what schemes he proposes for the aam aadmi whom he claims to represent. He claims that his party will be funded by the people. This is a woolly concept, the people cannot be relied on for endless sources of funds, especially to fight elections. For a party to be viable, it must at least have a presence in a couple of states if not the whole country. So far, Mr Kejriwal has not even got Delhi covered.
However, what seems clear is that he is keen to stay in the media limelight. It was only the other day that a TV anchor read out a tweet from Mr Kejriwal asking why he had been not been covered at some meet and whether this was a deliberate policy of blacking him out. Unless, Mr Kejriwal comes up with a manifesto, he runs the risk of being labeled a publicity seeker. He has raised the hopes of many that at last we have a party which cares for the common man. But these hopes are being eroded by the day. Wea-ring a Gandhi cap does not imbue a person with the qualities that the great man had, the foremost of which was to shun political power. If indeed, Mr Kejriwal is committed to the cause of cleaning up public life, then we would like to see a blueprint for that soon.
{{/usCountry}}However, what seems clear is that he is keen to stay in the media limelight. It was only the other day that a TV anchor read out a tweet from Mr Kejriwal asking why he had been not been covered at some meet and whether this was a deliberate policy of blacking him out. Unless, Mr Kejriwal comes up with a manifesto, he runs the risk of being labeled a publicity seeker. He has raised the hopes of many that at last we have a party which cares for the common man. But these hopes are being eroded by the day. Wea-ring a Gandhi cap does not imbue a person with the qualities that the great man had, the foremost of which was to shun political power. If indeed, Mr Kejriwal is committed to the cause of cleaning up public life, then we would like to see a blueprint for that soon.
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