Arvind Kejriwal's Quest from Sundar Nagri to Sundar Nagri
I find this video worth sharing as many times I can. Some
people believe that Arvind Kejriwal has turned into a crusader overnight. It is
a must watch video for them for they would then realize that the movement they
are now seeing has been evolving for many years. This video footage shows various
stages of an awareness campaign done by his NGO ‘Parivartan’ in 2002. This was about the taxpayer’s
money being looted in the name of various urban developmental activities shown on paper with
very little or nothing being done actually. You would see how they went on to
organize a first Jan-Sunwaayi or public hearing of its kind wherein thousands of
people including locals, journalists, MLA, Mayor and people from various
social organizations gathered. The hearing was presided over by the ex supreme
court judge Justice P B Sawant. Arvind Kejriwal has actually written about the
concept of Gram Sabhas and Mohalla Sabhas in his book titled Swaraj. We can very well see from this
video that those concepts are well re-searched and experimented. We can also observe
how prolifically he utilized Delhi’s RTI law that was passed by the Delhi
Assembly in 2001. He was later awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2006 for
his contribution in the RTI movement. Let’s have a look at the following video:
Interestingly, the place of this Jan-Sunwaayi was Sundar Nagri
that incidentally happened to be the venue of Arvind Kejriwal’s recently
concluded fast as well. It made the entire country witness an Asahyog Andolan or Civil Disobedience movement against inflated electricity and water
bills. Some sections of the mainstream media were quick to pronounce the judgment
of the movement being a failure because it failed to draw massive crowds at Sundar Nagri.
Little did they realize that that wasn’t really the intention of this Asahyog Andolan. The heart of this
movement lied in the empowerment of the people that could only be achieved by
removing the fear in their hearts. Also, quite a few speculations were put to
rest after Shri Anna Hazare came to the fast venue and offered his blessings to
Arvind Kejriwal declaring that they both are fighting for the same cause
however different their paths may be.
Seeing growing public support, a lot of media houses did
pick up the story even though reluctantly. However, Dilli Aajtak gave it the
maximum coverage and very rightly so. ABP news and NDTV India also did well to
name a few as far as I could observe. Overall, the movement did manage to stir
a countrywide debate on the means and outcome of Civil Disobedience as far as Arvind
Kejriwal’s call of not paying inflated electricity and water bills was concerned.
What has been disheartening so far however is that none of the channels have attempted
to do an investigative feature related to the entire issue. Especially when so
much of information is already in the public domain. They could have deciphered
the complexities, simplified all the data and presented the information before
us like they do with various exposes. However, the media seems to have its own
limitations and well informed people are now aware of this.
There was a debate related to the movement being Anarchic. I
think it has very well responded to by Abhinandan Sekhri in his NewsLaundry
piece; the link to which is given below:
The above piece also covers as to how there’s ample prima
facie indications of irregularities and the collusion between Discoms and the
Delhi Government. It must also be noted that after the televised
press-conference of the expose on 02.02.13, the Aam Aadmi party had organized more than 50 Jan-Sabhas
to enlighten people in various constituencies of Delhi. I had personally gone
to sit in a couple of them. Arvind Kejriwal has indeed given this movement everything.
When you meet him and look closely at what’s he trying to achieve, your respect
for him is going to grow manifolds.
I must confess to that Arvind Kejriwal has made me think a
lot in the past few months. And that is so much so that I can hardly think of
anything else than how to build a collective consciousness towards betterment
of our country. Not only that; I have noticed the same thing happening to many
other fellow countrymen. A few weeks back, I read a comment on Facebook. This fellow
wrote about how watching various activities of Arvind Kejriwal’s movement on
Youtube was giving him sleepless nights. He couldn't help but think of his
country more than anything else and contemplated on going back to India from
the UK in order to join the movement. Such is the magnitude of connection that
Arvind Kejriwal seems to have with the people who revere their country and want
to contribute to its glory.
In fact, most of us were awakened by the anti-corruption movement
led by Shri Anna Hazare in 2011, the architect of which was Arvind Kejriwal. I
had managed to write a piece even then: http://www.adityapranav.com/2011/08/awakening.html.
It caused a paradigm shift in the consciousness of this country. The
realization rapidly sank among people of various strata’s of society that
corruption in any form is a menace to our country. Humongous populace on the
streets had brought the government on the back foot even though for a little
while. They made a promise to the people of this country only to very
conveniently break it later. It only reaffirmed
that wiping out the evil in the system was not going to be easy. As an after-effect
the movement did branch out into various units. While Arvind Kejriwal became
the convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (http://aamaadmiparty.org/) Shri Anna
Hazare preferred remaining apolitical and went on to form Jantantra Morcha (formerly IAC-India Against Corruption).
Both Anna and Arvind have repeatedly maintained that they
have the same goal even though their paths are different. They call it the second
struggle for freedom. However, Anna and Arvind choosing different paths has
attracted a fair share of criticism as well. However, people are now coming to
terms with it and realizing that this may very well become a blessing in
disguise. They look back and realize that there were various groups fighting in
numerous ways in India’s freedom struggle against British rule also. There were
Extremists and Moderates. And yet they were fighting for the same cause. The
continuous attacks from various fronts of these groups had rattled the foreigners.
Similarly, the branching out of the current movement only promises to augur
well as far as fighting corruption and cleaning the dirty politics of India is
concerned.
I would also like to share a small observation at the
Jan-Sabha that happened in Malviya Nagar on March 3rd, 2013. I
noticed a frail and poverty ridden person (may be in 30s but looked very well
in his 40s) sitting with both his hands firmly on his head. It seemed as if he
would not be able to get up. What was strange was that he wasn’t sitting on the
mats meant for it; however, he had managed to place himself among the people
standing on the sideway. He seemed to be in total slumber but he was perhaps
all ears waiting to hear what was to come. Why was he there, if he wasn’t well enough?
All I could think was that perhaps he too had sensed that there was some hope.
And that his days of betrayal may soon be over. As they say, hope is a strange
thing. It rarely dies.
And last but not the least, today is the last
day of voting in Time magazine poll. You may be aware
that Arvind Kejriwal features in "The 2013 TIME 100 Poll" list of the
people (the only Indian in it) being considered to be most influential in their
respective fields. Had it been for any other big leader of the national
parties, the media would have gone gaga over it. Arvind Kejriwal’s Wharton address
received the same muted response while there were prime time discussions on one
of the related issues. It is not surprising considering the recent turn of
events though. However, he has earned his place in the list with his sheer
brilliance as a patriot, a fearless crusader and bringer of a political
revolution. He has swum through the ebb and flow of various oceanic battlefields
and emerged even stronger. In the process he has turned into an experienced campaigner
and promises a bright future of our country. He perhaps knows exactly what he
wants. You may vote for him at the following link:
Official voting ends on Friday, April 12th (Perhaps
according to the US timings). When BBC news reporter asked him about his nomination,
he only said that he didn't intend to be in any list; he would rather be in the
hearts of the people of the country he loved so much.
The Aam Aadmi Party movement in the leadership of Arvind
Kejriwal has now become a force to reckon with. It is a positive force with which
Aam Aadmi/Common people of our country are rising in order to re-claim Golden
Bird Status for India. Arvind Kejriwal goes up to the extent of saying that
there is some natural force conspiring in the favor this movement. I believe
him.
Jai Hind!!
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