Arvind Kejriwal, a pygmy in power

Remember Arvind Kejriwal of the year 2012! The angry young man, short in built but tall in stature, standing with the National Flag in his hands on the Anna Hazare-led India Against Corruption (IAC) platform, evoking hopes in millions of cleansing the political system of the country. It seemed India had got a young man of commitment in Kejriwal who had the potential to cleanse the system.

Delhi literally fell in love with this anti-corruption crusader voting his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to power with an overwhelming majority twice, first in 2015 and then again in 2020. It was a thank you vote to Kejriwal in the hope of a new dawn of corruption-free politics at least in Delhi.

The same Kejriwal now looks a pygmy issuing warning to Delhi private hospitals, many of which are charging “black money’’ from patients seeking admission for treatment. Imagine private hospitals are making ‘black money’’ from patients in times of a pandemic while the anti-corruption crusader issues warnings. You may now well guess the level of corruption in the Delhi administration under the one-time popular Mr Clean.

Was not Arvind Kejriwal pretending to be an anti-corruption crusader just to earn public sympathy for his ultimate ambition to ride to power which he did manage? But he soon ditched Delhi voters once in power. Has he not turned out to be a pygmy-like run of the mill politicians who makes false promises to his voters to win an election!

Arvind Kejriwal has turned out a big flop as an administrator barely three months after winning his second term in February 2020. Delhi is undergoing hell under him in the past few months. First, Delhi witnessed the worst communal riots in a long time in the northwestern part of the city.

Over 50 persons lost their lives while properties worth hundreds of crores were gutted. The Delhi government does not have any control over policing in the National Capital. So, you can’t fault him for police inaction. But what about helping the riot victims which is his duty as well?

The Delhi administration did not even pitch a single camp for the victims to take shelter in. It was left to Delhi Waqf Board to put together a camp. Kejriwal instead shocked millions of his supporters when he defended the police’s role and openly praised Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to curry favour from the central government in his second stint in power. Delhi riots were a major challenge for Kejriwal to prove his administrative skills in power. But he flopped on this front.

Kejriwal is now grappling with the Coronavirus pandemic without much to show for in dealing with this crisis. Delhi, besides Mumbai and Ahmedabad, has turned out to be the worst off as far as total number of Coronavirus patients are concerned.

The official figure has crossed 27,000 and on June 6, the number of active positive cases stood at over 16,000. Delhi is averaging 1000-plus cases every day. And this is happening when the testing figure is abysmally low. The official mess is showing up in hospitals, both public and private.

The number of beds are so few that private hospitals, according to the Chief Minister’s own admission, are making a killing charging under the table from patients. Even if a patient is admitted in a hospital, his chances of getting a ventilator are few as ventilators are terribly short of demand. Newspapers have already reported the aweful status of availability of PPE kits. Kejriwal does nothing but issues warnings to private hospitals like Ganga Ram for indulging in ‘black marketing’.

It clearly shows that Kejriwal neither has any vision nor did he gear up his administration to face the pandemic. Poor Delhiwallahas are now paying heavily for the sins of their Chief Minister whom they voted to power with the hope of a new dawn in Indian politics.

Indeed, the power hungry and incompetent Kejriwal, unconcerned about peoples’ woes, now stands exposed before Delhi and the country which he hoodwinked in 2012 as an anti-corruption crusader. Don’t you think Kejriwal is a pygmy in power who cheated everyone for the sake of assuming power?