Arvind Kejriwal

The man I wanted to be

I still remember the time when I came out of the theater after watching Rang De Basanti back in 2006. I have never been moved that much by any movie before. I kept on thinking about the movie for days repeating its dialogs in my mind again and again. One epic dialog that still holds close to my heart was

Zindagi jeene k do hi tarike hote hai … ek jo ho raha hai hone do, bardaasht karte jao … ya phir jimmedari uthao use badalneki

To live life there are only two ways … one whatever is happening let it happen, keep tolerating it … or else take the responsibility to change it

I kept saying to myself that once I grow up I will take responsibility to change my country. I will join IAS or politics and try to bring a positive change in my country.But like all amazing movies you watch or good books you read, these thoughts fade away with time. I consoled myself by saying what difference I can make in this country full of corrupt politicians. Even if I try, I will be suppressed.Let me focus on my studies, try to get into a good college , get a decent job, earn good money and live my life in peace. That’s what I did and that’s what most of us strive to do in life. There are very few among us who have the courage to leave their easy going life and do something useful for the country.

I did not have much hope left for the country after hearing about the countless scams and instances of corruption happening all over the country. From the CWG scam in Delhi to the Adarsh Housing Scam in Mumbai, the 2G Scam , the coal mining scam , corruption had taken such deep roots in our society that it was nearly impossible to eradicate it.

Then one fine morning while surfing through various news sites I read about Anna Hazare and his fight for the LokPal Bill. He was this Gandhian like figure who was using Satyagraha to fight for a Jan Lokpal in India to help reduce corruption in the country.I was not sure whether that was a right way to go and whether he would be able to make a significant impact.

There were quite a few notable figures like Kiran Bedi who were supporting Anna Hazare for his cause. But among these figures there was a man completely unheard of by me Arvind Kejriwal. I read about his history and was impressed by his qualifications. An IIT Kharagpur graduate who cleared civil services examination and joined Indian Revenue Services . He had held positions as high as Joint Commissioner of Incomer Tax, New Delhi. I was confused what this man was doing here. Who could leave such life of luxury to fight against corruption in the country? He could have easily taken advantage of his post and earned shit loads of money like others. But instead he was sitting there without eating anything for days in protest against the government, getting beaten by the lathis of the police and spending some nights in prison.

The Anti Corruption movement became big with thousands of supporters now joining the agitation. I got a ray of hope that maybe people like Anna and Arvind have what it takes to change the country. The Government tried all the tricks in their bag to break this movement. Kejriwal knew that this government is too corrupt to agree to all their demands. So he decided to make his own party and contest elections in Delhi.There was a split between Anna and Arvind . The Aam Admi Party came into existence.

I was not convinced by his decision , that was completely deviating from the initial goals that he had an eye on. I still believed this guy because his intentions were always right. He wanted to help the common man of the country to be free from the claws of corruption. He brought me hope that this country can have a bright future. I had my doubts as to how they were going to accomplish it. How can a party with such naive members win against the veterans? They did not have any funds to conduct their campaign nor any volunteers to spread a word about them. How can they even think of fighting against the mighty Congress and BJP? Everyone starting from Media to the Congress, BJP wrote them off.

Kejriwal had the belief that common man of this country who has become tired of all this corruption will support him. And so it happened.I had hope that AAP would be able to win atmost 8-10 seats. Then came the delihi election results on the morning of 8th Dec 2013 which restored my faith in democracy. I was dancing with my friends whenever the seat count of AAP got incremented by one. The most epic result was Kejriwal beating Sheila Dikshit by thousands of votes. Some people did not realize the magnitude of what happened that day but it was indeed a memorable day in the history of India.

A turn of surprising events occurred like unconditional support to AAP by Congress that led Kejriwal to become the chief minister of Delhi. Kejriwal became a real life Nayak. I was overwhelmed when I saw him taking the oath as the Chief Minister of Delhi. Then began a series of controversies involving the members of AAP. They were under the burden of fulfilling all the promises they had made to the people. They were accused of still being in the activist mode, of being a second hand to the Congress and of making decisions in a haste.The media turned against them big time and all the good things they were doing were not emphasized.

Many people are losing their faith in AAP following all these controversies.I may be looking like a full time Kejriwal follower here but I am against many of his ways of running the government. I know that all the members of AAP may not have the right intentions as the party was made in such a haste. I am also not in favour of AAP fighting for more than 400 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 elections. But I still believe most of the members of AAP have genuine interest in solving the problems in the country. They have a leader that reminds them always that they are not here to rule but to serve people.Yes they are naive, they will take bad decisions , they will fail sometimes but I believe they will remain honest.Its not time to follow the media and go against them its time to support them with all your heart. If they do something stupid , we must rectify them by giving feedback.They are starting a new brand of politics in the country that we are not used to. But who knows may be it will work. They believe in a democracy in which the people rule and we must start taking responsibility to change our country.

They cannot fail, no they should not fail because if they fail, if Kejriwal fails all hope would be lost. Even if there is another Kejriwal in our country he will think ten times before joining politics. I think its time to be patient and not withdraw your support from AAP. Lets give them some time and see if they can bring a positive change in the country.

Let me end the article with one more amazing dialog from Rang De Basanti.

Koi bhi country perfect nahi hota…use perfect banana padta hai.. IAS join karo police main bharthi ho politics join karke yeh desh ki sarkar chalao …. yeh desh badlega ……. hum badlenge isse…

No country is perfect….We need to make it perfect….Join IAS , Join Police or join politics and run the government of the country…this country will change …..we will change it…..