Evolution of Kejriwal from 2014 to 2020, how he compromised his own ideology to gain political mileage

Three days left for the big battle between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP. Everyone is aware of the Delhi assembly election which is going to be held on February 8. Ever since the date of the election was announced by the Election Commission, AAP and BJP both parties have been holding election rallies in New Delhi in order to attract voters. The BJP has started conducting rallies across the national capital ahead of the high-voltage Delhi assembly elections.

If we go back in 2015, AAP was a dominant party and secured 67 seats in the assembly election. But the situation will not be easy for the AAP party in the 2020 assembly election because the AAP party lost all 7 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha election and vote share dropped down drastically. On the other hand, the BJP is going to leave no stone unturned so this is going to be an interesting battle. The AAP party seems to be under pressure as it has already lost all seats in the Lok Sabha election, whereas the BJP will be less worried as it won on all 7 seats in the 2019 general election.

Let’s see why CM Kejriwal seems to be under more pressure:

Before the 2015 Delhi election, CM Kejriwal accused former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit of corruption and imposed allegations on her. But when it came to the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Kejriwal joined hands with Mahagathbandhan. Kejriwal, who was against Congress and Samajwadi Party, is now sharing the stage with them. Thinking that Kejriwal would take action against Sheila Dixit, people elected AAP party unanimously with 67 seats but after becoming Chief Minister of Delhi Kejriwal neither took any action against Sheila Dixit nor tried to curb corruption in the capital.

Chief Minister of Delhi was ousted from power by AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal. Targeting Sheila Dixit for alleged corruption, Arvind Kejriwal said that if his party voted to power, they would take action against Sheila Dixit. Kejriwal made a promise to Delhi public that he would file an FIR against Ms Dixit in the Commonwealth Games scam.

An investigation into the matter was conducted by several anti-corruption agencies, including the CBI and the Central Vigilance Commission. But the Delhi government said it had ordered the probe as most of the earlier investigations were eyewash and cases were closed without reaching any logical and meaningful conclusion.

But CM Kejriwal backed out from his promise and no action was taken against corrupted people, whereas PM Modi assured people of India before the Lok Sabha election saying that if BJP party came to power again, he would send corrupted men into jail and he fulfilled his promise after winning Lok sabha election with a majority.

After Narendra Modi returned as the prime minister in 2019, Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram was arrested by The Enforcement Directorate and sent him to Tihar jail in connection with the INX Media corruption case. Ever since the BJP party came to power at the centre in 2019, many historic decisions have been taken by the Modi government just within 6 months like, the abrogation of Article 370, Abolition of Triple Talaq, Ram mandir dispute, the Citizenship Amendment Bill, and many more. 

Above all CM Kejriwal still remains mum over the ongoing protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi. Several women along with their children have been staging a dharna at Shaheen Bagh for over a month. When Kejriwal was asked, he said that he was with Shaheen Bagh that proves that Delhi CM Kejriwal is backing Shaheen Bagh for violent agitation and the AAP party is standing behind the protest. Delhi public has now understood the game of Kejriwal and they appear to have changed their mood. The BJP is apparently gaining momentum right before the assembly election.  

Writer, historian, and activist Dharam Sikarwar is a very active author The Youth. He writes on national and international issues, environment, politics. He is an avid book reader as well.