Aam Admi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal has decided to end his two-week long fast against inflated power and water bill on Saturday. With the Government refusing to buzz and his indefinite fast failing to make any impact, the protest has once again failed to bear fruit. Team Kejriwal had urged Anna Hazare to offer juice to him to break his fast but the latter, through a letter, simply appealed Kejriwal to end the fast. Interestingly, the two had split in last September because of the anti-corruption movement taking a political turn. The fast will end at 5 pm on Saturday. AAP members Manish Sisodia and Kumar Vishwas had gone to Haryana to invite Hazare to join the protest. However, owing to his nation-wide tour, Hazare expressed his inability to be present at the venue.
Till Thursday, Kejriwal had lost 8.5 kgs weight. The protest which is a part of what the AAP termed as ‘Civil Disobedience Movement’ demanded a CAG audit of private discoms in Delhi.
Announcing his decision to break fast, Kejriwal said, “I will be only breaking my fast but the movement, the protest will go on.” As part of the launch of the second phase, on the same day the Aam Aadmi Party activists will visit every ward, and reconnect power and water connections disconnected by authorities for non-payment of bills, Kejriwal told his supporters. “After that, in the evening the activists will assemble here and I will break my fast,” he said. He claimed that 10.5 lakh people have signed the petition saying that they will not pay their power bill.
The voice to control ‘inflated’ power and water bills by the AAP was seemingly vociferous in the beginning, but eventually the demonstration appeared to have fizzled out.
Its inability to amass crowds over the time only reflects its fading glaze and credibility deficit of team Kejriwal which has been often criticised for leaving his numerous exposes and protests mid-way and thus, adding further disrepute to Kejriwal and his party.