Arvind Kejriwal is gunning for the messenger
The speed with which Mr Arvind Kejriwal has been discovering enemies is amazing. It appears that his entire political philosophy is based on finding targets to smear them with allegations, most often unsubstantiated. The Aam Aadmi Party leader believes that this is a sure way to gain traction, remain in the news, and convert the publicity into votes in the coming lok Sabha election. The dubious tactic certainly does not seem to be paying dividend in the last case, as opinion polls are predicting a single-digit figure for the fledgling party across the country. This only seems to be making Mr Kejriwal all the more determined to pursue his pet theme in the hope that he can still make the questionable tactics work. He began his campaign by first targeting then Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, and moved on to Mr Narendra Modi, industrialist Mukesh Ambani and, now, the media.
Mr Kejriwal is free to take on his opponents, but he must be careful when he levels accusations that are based on his perceptions and prejudice rather than substance. Since he, and his followers who have taken a cue from him, are facing defamation charges from those they have been maligning left, right and centre, one must hope that in due course of time, they will be made legally answerable. Meanwhile, his latest rant against the media is shocking, if not surprising given that the AAP leader has made it a habit to slander. Does he truly believe that he can put critical media personnel behind bars, as he has threatened to do if his party comes to powerIJ Mr Kejriwal has said that people, including the media, who have been conspiring against his party, will be locked up. He is clearly rattled by the negative Press publicity that he and his party have been getting of late, and believes a grand conspiracy has been hatched between his political opponents and the media to defame him and the AAP.
This is ridiculous for many reasons. For one, Mr Kejriwal is to a large measure the creation of the very same media which he now finds obnoxious. The media had given massive publicity to the anti-corruption campaign he had participated in alongside social activist Anna Hazare just a couple of years ago. The media had lionised him and given him the momentum which helped him form a political party and gain power in Delhi. The media has never been pathologically opposed to him, let alone having had the time and inclination to hatch plots against him.
Mr Kejriwal began to develop a dislike for the Press after it began scrutinising his and his party's actions once AAP came to power in Delhi with the Congress's support — and this scrutiny has rightly continued thereafter. His many flip-flops, his lack of governance, his tendency to throw muck at others without evidence and the hooliganism his supporters have routinely engaged in, caught the attention of the media, which panned him. Soon enough, Mr Kejriwal announced that the media had been “bought” over by elements opposed to him. His rant that the media was not giving his party the positive attention which it deserved, and was extending disproportionate coverage to his opponents (read Mr Modi), is akin to the lament of a loser. Mr Kejriwal needs to grow up. Attempts made in the past to tame the media had failed; they are unlikely to succeed now.