Why is Modi afraid of Kejriwal ? | Vazhipokkan

There are some apparently unseen links between Prime Minister Modi and Delhi CM Aravind Kejriwal. Both their vote banks are the middle class Hindus. Simply look at the election results in the last decade. AAP won hands down in the 2015 and 2020 assembly elections in Delhi. But, the last two Lok Sabha elections saw BJP sweeping Delhi. The voters of Delhi seem to be voting for Kejriwal in the assembly elections and for Modi in the Lok Sabha poll. If Modi is the follower of Ram, Kejriwal sees Hanuman, who is considered the most loyal follower of Rama, as his guiding light.

Both Modi and Kejriwal kicked off their political journey by announcing a crusade against corruption. RSS is viewed as another link between Modi and Kejriwal. It was reported that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar directed Kejriwal way back in 2010 to have Anna Hazare as the face of his battle against corruption. The statement of Mohan Bhagwat, the sarsangh chalak of RSS, that the RSS-Anna Hazare links go back a long way must be read along with this. And, we must also remember the proclamation by Govindacharya, the RSS ideologue, that Kejriwal used to meet him in 2011. Let us also recall Prashant Bhushan's observation that the India Against Corruption (IAC), the movement spearheaded by Anna and Kejriwal, was a mass offered at the altar of RSS and BJP. Eventhough Kejriwal was the master brain of IAC, it was Modi and BJP, who got most of the political mileage out of this movement. IAC played a critical factor in both Modi and Kejriwal's political trajectory.

Kejriwal is a street fighter. He is always ready to lock horns with anyone. He marked his entry into politics defeating Sheila Dixit in 2013. He went on to Varanasi the very next year to take on Modi in the Lok Sabha  poll. And, he emerged the runner up, sidelining the other major opposition parties, including the Congress and SP. If all the opposition parties had rallied behind Kejriwal, Varanasi might have told a different tale. Kejriwal shocked Modi again in 2015 by winning 67 out of the 70 seats in Delhi assembly election.  He repeated the spectacular performance in 2020. The way BJP was pushed to the second slot in the Delhi Municipal Corporation in 2022 proved that Kejriwal and his team had expanded their roots far and deep.

Modi and BJP were determined to clip the wings of Kejriwal by then. The central govt moved swiftly to curtail the powers of the Delhi govt in the wake of these developments. But Kejriwal proved that he was not a small fish. If it was a game, he was ready for it. He created a Delhi model as an alternative to the Gujarat model projected by Modi. He marketed it very well and won Punjab for AAP.  Kejriwal is fighting Modi in his own bastion of Hindutva. This is what irritates Modi and the BJP the most. The alliance between Congress and AAP was the last nail in the coffin. The plan to halt AAP's leap gathered momentum against this backdrop.
 

BJP's excitement had no bounds when Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on the eve of March 21. The move was projected as yet another chapter in the BJP's battle for corruption-free India. But, no person, who has a minimum political sense would be ready to accept this view, considering the timing of the arrest. If the ED had waited till the elections were over, then the motive behind the arrest would never have been controversial to this extent. ED accuses Kejriwal of being complicit in the liquor scam. But, despite its investigation for the last two years, ED has failed to present any convincing proof against any of the accused. It is extremely difficult to get bail under PMLA (prevention of money laundering act). Section 45 of the PMLA, makes it clear that bail can only be granted when the judge is prima facie satisfied of innocence. Judges reject bail because without the trial commencing, they only have  the agency's accusations before them, so they find it hard to go against the ED's submissions. That means bail is granted only when the ED itself does not oppose bail. Sanjay Singh MP, an accused in the same case, was granted bail by the SC because ED didn't oppose his petition.
 

There are only statements right now against Kejriwal and the other accused in the liquor scam. These statements were given to ED by those persons who turned approvers after ED arrested them. Let us look at the statement given by Sarat Chandra Reddy, who is now one of the prosecution witnesses in the case. Reddy was accused of paying bribes to get liquor licences in Delhi. It is reported that he didn't tell anything about Kejriwal in the beginning. Then the ED arrested him and opposed his bail. Later, he turned a prosecution witness and gave statements against Kejriwal. In the meantime, Reddy's companies donated Rs 59.5 crore to the BJP. He was allowed to become the ED's prosecution witness and subsequently got bail. It is nothing but irony that the money trail leads to the accuser instead of the accused.

This was the first time when a sitting chief minister got arrested in independent India. The timing of the arrest couldn't be missed by any student of politics. The arrest of their supremo was a severe setback to the AAP.  Already the other major leaders, including deputy CM Sisodia, minister Satyendra Jain and Sanjay Singh MP were in jail. Kejriwal has been the most significant leader of AAP. When such a leader gets arrested, it is quite natural that the party feels rattled to the core.

But, AAP got its act together very fast. The second line leaders like Athishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj rose to the occasion and led the party from the front. It was a standing testimony to the dictum that extraordinary times create heroes out of ordinary people.

There is an observation that what Modi and BJP did was 'Vinaashakaale Vipareetabudhhi'. The arrest of Kejriwal provided a perfect context to the Congress and AAP to stand together to take on the BJP. The alliance between the Congress and the AAP wouldn't have been this smooth if the Modi regime had not arrested Kejriwal. Both the parties have been at loggerheads for the last ten years and the workers at the grassroot level would have found it extremely difficult to convince the electorate of their tie up. But the arrest of Kejriwal changed everything. It gave the opposition parties the much needed fillip to go after the Modi regime.
 

Level playing field is a must in every democracy. If all the parties don't enjoy equal opportunities, democracy is bound to die. India has this peculiar situation where BJP is much ahead of the other parties in terms of funds and other resources. The saffron party has amassed thousands of crores from the electoral bonds, which give them a definite edge over the other parties. The move by the Income Tax department to freeze the bank accounts of the Congress must also be recalled here. And, we shouldn't forget that BJP tried its best to get Rahul Gandhi disqualified from the Lok Sabha. The arrest of the two chief ministers - Kejriwal and Hemant Soren- have to be seen against this backdrop.

If anyone thinks that the easiest way to crush Brazil and Argentina in the world cup football is to flag a red card to Neymar and Messi then that will be the end of one of the most beautiful games in the world. The Modi regime is doing something similar to Indian democracy right now.

Fear has become the hallmark of the Modi regime. Prime Minister Modi never wastes an opportunity to project India as the mother of democracy. But, these arrests clearly show how determined this regime is in suppressing any voice of dissent. This regime had no qualms in imprisoning Fr Stan Swamy, the octogenarian social activist. Even his request for a sipper since he was suffering from Parkinson's disease, was met with hostility by the Modi regime.

TS Eliot, the anglican poet, penned these prophetic lines in his poem 'The Waste land' 102 years ago:

''Son of man, come under this red rock,
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.''

The words and deeds of PM Modi reflect this primitive fear, the fear of the opponent. Maybe he sees a matching antagonist in Kejriwal. The stories of David and Goliath and that of Bali and Sugriva might be haunting him from the pages of the epics. This may be the reason why he gets perturbed over the fundamentals of democracy. He gets skeptical that the development of India is halted by the 'excessive ' concern over the democratic rights. It was Amitab Kanth, the former CEO of Niti Ayog, who said that too much democracy was India's problem. What Amitab and Modi forget is the fact that it was democracy itself that has made Modi what he is today.

There seems to be an apprehension in the corridors of power that the construction of Ram temple, the neutralisation of article 370 in J&K and the implementation of CAA may not be enough to win a consecutive third term. BJP has to win more seats in Maharashtra, Bengal, Andhra and Odisha apart from retaining what they got in Karnataka in the last Lok Sabha election, if their target of 370 seats is to be achieved.  This is easier said than done. The AAP - Congress alliance poses a tough challenge to BJP in Delhi. The signs are that Congress is slated to increase their tally in Karnataka and Telangana. With the split in NCP and Shiv Sena, Maharashtra also doesn't look that favourable to BJP.  RSS is celebrating its centenary next year. If the BJP fails to retain power when the Sangh is having its most precious moment in recent history, the parivar may not be able to forgive Modi and Shah for the fatal failure.
 

It was the fear of losing power that forced Indira Gandhi to declare emergency. All the opposition leaders, including Jayapraksh Narayan, Morarji Desai, Vajpayee and Chandrashekar were arrested at midnight. Indira regretted the draconian act later. Pupul Jaykar has written that Indira did realise her mistake and shared the same with Jiddu Krishnamurthi. She told him that she was riding on the back of a tiger and she didn't know how to get off its back. She couldn't avoid the inevitable fall despite imprisoning all the opposition leaders. People elected leaders like George Fernandes even though they were still in prison and couldn't campaign. Indira and her team didn't have any shortage of funds. All the major institutions, including the judiciary, stood by her in the onslaught against democracy. Still, Indira and Congress were defeated and thrown out of power.  
 

It is true that the opposition parties don't have a charismatic leader like Jayaprakash Narayan right now. It is also true that Indira didn't have the backup of a mighty organisation like the RSS. But, there are moments in history when people themselves act decisively. 2004 witnessed such a historical moment. The opposition parties didn't have any towering leaders who could match Vajpayee or Advani. Still, people rejected the BJP and gave power to the Congress. That paved the way for the emergence of a leader like Manmohan Singh. Kejriwal's arrest may trigger the birth of such a moment. The foundations of Indian democracy have been built upon the blood and sweat of lakhs of freedom fighters including Gandhiji. History and time will not allow these sacrifices to go in vain.