Poet Kumar Vishwas and politician Alka Lamba should have kept to themselves and not attempted to correct their former comrade in arms and Aam Aadmi Party convener, Arvind Kejriwal, who is no longer just the chief minister of Delhi but also the inspiration for Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann. Besides, Vishwas and Lamba also didn’t get it that AAP now commands a police force, which it didn’t when it conquered Delhi twice in a row. But Kejriwal knows what he is capable of with a non-Delhi-like state under the AAP’s belt. Kejriwal used to be called the “apology chief minister” of the times for the number of times he apologised including to Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and the late Arun Jaitley among others. The apologies were accompanied by a charming and disarming smile that only Arvind Kejriwal could conjure up.
Among Arvind’s supporters, there are massive numbers of media persons who saw in the quick-witted Kejriwal, the sparks of a Prime Minister in the making. Some of them recall how he “chased” BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi to Varanasi in 2014 and attempted to nip the “danger India faced” there and then in the bud! Then, challenger Kejriwal, couldn’t beat Modi, but 2024 will be different, insist some of his journalist “friends”. Some of these are also a little perturbed, and wary. They see danger signals in the unholy pursuit of Kumar Vishwas and Alka Lamba that they cannot fathom in someone who they thought and reckon was a “different” kind of politician, unlike the legacy politicos who are still abound. Many of these journos are warning each other to be careful what they write and say about “Arvind”. As Kumar Vishwas and Alka Lamba are learning much to their discomfort. The former, who claims he was one of the “original founders” of AAP and had incubated the anti-corruption movement of Anna Hazare, is now the ire in the eye of Arvind Kejriwal.
As of now, Kejriwal has his eye screwed tight on the eye of the proverbial fish. Willing to take his chances with risks, too. One of which is to ape Modi in every which way possible, most of all in the manner in which Modi and the BJP have been going about wooing Hindu votes. So, even as Kejriwal and Punjab Police are a potent force, it should be noted that AAP and Kejriwal are game to dump the Muslims in their quest to win India! And in the footsteps of Narendra Modi, literally, so to speak. Kejriwal’s use of the police is seen as something which he has picked up from Modi and Amit Shah. What’s worrying the saffrons is the sudden aggression in AAP when taking on the “BJP goons”. AAP spokespersons are all fire and brimstone these days of Shobha yatras and bulldozers running amok. Newer and newer facets of Kejriwal are tumbling out including opportunism. For the man who famously said that he didn’t crave power and pelf, there is no holding back. As Alka Lamba and Kumar Vishwas, plus the Muslims, are getting to know, never judge a book by its cover. What is inside Arvind Kejriwal only Arvind Kejriwal knows!
