Is Kejriwal back on dharna mode?

It seems clear now as the going gets tough, Kejriwal and AAP have decided to go back and use the tool of holding dharnas.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, had warned that he would launch a movement if his party is defeated in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections as predicted by exit polls.Now with the BJP winning and the exit polls proving correct, major protests can be expected from the Aam Aadmi Party.

The AAP and the political careers of many, if not all, its top leaders can be traced back to the popular movement against corruption by the social activist Anna Hazare in Delhi in 2011.

Back then leaders like Kejriwal, along with others such as Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai, now minsters in the current Delhi government, were with Anna during his dharna when he went on fast for 12 days.

It has been more than five years since, and those who helped Anna are now a part of the government ruling the state where they once sat in protest.

But coming to power in Delhi with a majority of 67 seats out of 70 does not seem to have changed the modus-operandi of the group.

The latest threat of starting a mass movement is not the first time that Kejriwal has threatened this and in all probability, it will not be the last.

In fact, he sat on a dharna and spent a night in protest against the Union Home ministry in Delhi in 2014 alleging non-cooperation from Delhi police officers, during his brief first term of 49 days as a chief minister.

The idea of elected officials staging protests against other elected officials might have once seemed odd, but given AAP's track record when it comes to staging protests this hardly seems improbable now.

While the AAP came back to power in 2015, the main focus of its fight with the Union government has been over jurisdictional issues in Delhi with the former Lt Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung and Prime Minster Narendra Modi being the main targets.

Though his second term has been quite sober compared with the first when it comes to staging dharnas, things seem to be coming a full circle for Kejriwal.

As the election results in different states keep going against AAP, the threats of agitations have started again. With the allegations of tampering of electronic voting machines being considered a major reason for its defeat in recent elections.

It seems clear now as the going gets tough, Kejriwal and AAP have decided to go back and use the tool of holding dharnas, which has served them well in the past, even though Anna might not be supporting them anymore.

The question that remains to be answered is whether the people of Delhi feel that their interests are best served with their chief minister and his government launching movements to take on the NDA government.

Given the latest MCD election results, it would seem that is not the case. But that does not seem to have deterred Kejriwal for now.

OneIndia News