A free man now, Arvind Kejriwal, after he stepped down as Delhi’s chief minister, continued his attack on Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP’s Prime Ministerial Narendra Modi. Kejriwal wants Modi to break his silence on gas pricing. He also wants Modi to specify what is his and his party’s relation with Mukesh Ambani and Adani. Anyhow that issue has been settling down with time. However, Kejriwal literally took it seriously and is touring Gujarat. He sat with people under a tree in a village in central Gujarat, asked a simple question to people surrounding him. He asked, “If you are unhappy with Narendra Modi, why did you vote for him?” The villagers shared stories that contradict the claims of development that Mr. Modi has centre-pieced in his campaign. The women in the audience said government schools are sub-standard and hospitals are non-existent. One man who was there said he paid bribe to government officers for completing his work as they were not forwarding his file. Kejriwal listened intently to them. For the next three days, the former tax inspector will tour parts of Mr. Modi’s homestead, part of a self-declared audit of Mr. Modi’s performance as the man who has governed Gujarat for nearly 13 years. “(They say) education has developed, health issues have been resolved, corruption has been finished… so Kejriwal has gone there to see that development in Gujarat.
Since Mr. Kejriwal resigned as the Chief Minister of Delhi last month, he has been expending his efforts on campaigning and strategising for the national election. His Aam Aadmi Party has suggested that Mr. Kejriwal will contest against Mr. Modi if the BJP leader runs for Parliament from anywhere outside Gujarat. Just over a year since its formation, AAP, which has positioned itself as an anti-corruption party, won enough seats in December’s Delhi state elections to take power. Mr. Kejriwal quit as chief minister after the anti-graft bill proposal he championed, the Jan Lokpal Bill, was stalled in the Delhi legislature.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is continuing its attack on BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. It’s a known fact that Modi’s huge and mega rallies are sponsored by Adani and Ambanis, both these tycoons have played major role in making of Modi a ‘Brand’. Kejriwal said Modi should speak on Mukesh Ambani and gas pricing in Himachal’s rally which he conducted on Sunday. The AAP leader also questioned Gandhi’s support to higher gas price allegedly favouring the Ambanis. The party has been attacking the two leaders over this issue ever since an FIR was registered by AAP led Delhi government against Mukesh Ambani and Union Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily. His party has been making the gas pricing as an issue ahead of 2014 General elections. Would 2014 elections be fought between AAP and Mukesh Ambani, with Rahul and Modi being agents of Mukesh Ambani?
On Kejriwal’s orders, the Delhi government’s anti-corruption bureau had registered an FIR against Union Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily, Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani, former Union Minister Murli Deora and retired director general of Hydrocarbons VK Sibal for creating an artificial shortage of natural gas in the country and raising its prices.
A few months back, Modi had challenged Mr. Rahul Gandhi for a debate and Gandhi did not respond to him. Now, is Modi ready to debate with Arvind Kejriwal? Before elections, there should be debate between in these three leaders. Let people know who is capable to head them. Democracy has the Right to Reject. If Kejriwal can’t bring the bill this time then he could table it in the next session. There are people on streets and slums of Delhi who voted to Kejriwal, believing that he will change their life. Leaving all such crucial priorities aside, he wouldn’t have resigned. There is no doubt that crony capitalism must end and transparency must prevail. But ‘everyone is thief approach’ must be given up otherwise our economy would suffer heavily. On the other hand, his question to Modi is valid, Modi has given a lot of favours to Ambani for his industries in Gujarat and the bond between them is rock solid. So, expecting Modi to break silence on Ambani and Adani would be laughable. He won’t make any statement since it would mean violation of agreement with the Reliance. It’s good that at least Kejriwal is daring to take up the issue and exposing them openly. Now, people of this country have to decide what they want. Whoever comes in power, RIL will be the favourite punching bag for AAP and the party will go to any extent to expose them. Unfortunately, for RIL, they have a product ‘gas” which directly hurts the common man. It really surprises me that people are avoiding the issue by saying matter is being ‘Subjudice’! Discussing alleged unethical things by the corporate houses is never deemed as contempt of court. At last, someone dares to break the conspiracy of silence. The important issues of the day have been carefully shielded from public debate under the guise of “growth” and “governance.” While Manmohan Singh’s reticence is to blame, the principal opposition’s obstructionist stances have led to the death of issue-based politics.
The Indian public discourse needed a rude shake-up to revive these issues. The four pillars, Executive, Legislature, Judiciary and the Media have slipped into a comfort zone in the sleaze of crony capitalist growth. True transparency will start with disclosures on electoral funds, but will take at least another 10 years. The revolution has barely begun and will need persistent support. Those who have manipulated systems so far will try to do so more virulently. Ambani must proceed to court; many things will come out if court takes serious note of it.
Survey conducted by many organisations reached a conclusion that many fake twitter ids were created to favour Modi and dislike others. Many senior politicians of BJP and other parties were abused by these supporters. Who is the brain child behind this, to create fake ids to tweet? How much money has been spent on this project? A probe is needed to establish Modi and Businessmen nexus. After this, court will also ask the government to clarify, who is ruling Gujarat? Modi is touring the nation from last one year, busy in attending mega rallies and meeting people to generate support in his favour.
Meanwhile, neither Modi nor any other politicians dare to utter a single word against Mukesh Ambani. They know the consequences of speaking against him. No political parties or politicians would like to lose election funds offered by corporate houses. RIL and Adani groups are in collusion with Modi and are further exposed from the CAG report which reveals that they were awarded farmland at throw-away prices. It becomes a trend that now the corporate houses do not put their eggs in one basket but in different baskets so that if any political party captures power, they are not harmed by it. Moreover, Kejriwal believes too much in populist talks. He should focus in constructive moves. That will be good for his political career as well as for the politics of this country.
Opinion polls predict that the BJP, led by Modi, will emerge as the largest political party but fall short of a majority in the general election that begins on April 7. Results will be declared on May 16.
The schedule was announced by Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath along with Election Commissioners H S Brahma and Dr. Nasim Zaidi at a press conference held at Vigyan Bhavan in the national capital.