 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Kejriwal's FIVE biggest boo-boos in one month
One month after Arvind Kejriwal assumed office, the unorthodox and uncommon chief minister and his party have earned more criticism and praise.
Rediff.com asks readers to rate their performance.
One Tuesday, the Arvind Kejriwal government completed one month in office.
The debutant chief minister gave the people of Delhi a lot of hope as he defeated a mighty Sheila Dikshit on December 8, 2013. A month on, Kejriwal and his ‘aam aadmi’ government’s popularity may have dwindled.
Read: The Aam Aadmi Party's 30-day report card
His unconventional style of governance has hit headlines, mostly for the wrong reasons. The Kejriwal government finds itself battling one controversy after another and has won more criticism than praise.
Here’s how the Aam Aadmi Party missed a step or more and fumbled.
How many stars do you give the AAP government?
Click NEXT to find out how the Kejrwal government faultered...
Prashant Bhushan's Kashmir referendum
With great power comes great responsibility.
The AAP has learnt its lesson the hard way or may be not, after its senior leader Prashant Bushan called for a referendum in the Valley to decide whether or not the army should be deployed to deal with internal threats in Kashmir.
"People should be asked whether they want the army to handle the internal security of Kashmir. Any decision which does not have the backing of the people is undemocratic," he had said in an interview to Aaj Tak.
No surprise that Bhushan’s comments created a huge political uproar. Kejriwal distanced himself from the remark.
Bhushan of course alleged that this comments were twisted. And since then has been MIA (missing in action)!
Rate AAP's agenda on the Kashmir issue:
Click NEXT to read further...
No to FDI in retail
The Delhi CM shelved FDI in retail dealing a strong blow to Manmohan Singh’s efforts to revive the economy by attracting overseas investment.
The move to bar foreign supermarkets from setting shop in the capital was termed as ‘populist’. India Inc was clearly upset.
And as the demand grew from the industry for Kejriwal to roll back his decision, even AAP’s Captain Gopinath called the move regressive.
But there was no changing ‘Mr Populist’s’ mind, who believes: FDI provides a wide range of choice to consumers but it has been seen in several countries that it has led to unemployment.
Rate Kejriwal government's stand on the FDI issue:
Click NEXT to read further...
AAP's vigilante politicians
This one has definitely earned Kejriwal and his ministers negative points.
AAP minister Somnath Bharti turned vigilante, as he led a midnight raid and tried to bully the police to arrest some Nigerians and Ugandans allegedly involved in a drug and prostitution ring.
That’s not all. The law minister flouted the laws and how: With no arrest warrant and no woman police, he quarreled with officials to get the foreign nationals arrested.
What’s even more shocking was that two of the women were beaten up and forced to give urine samples.
AAP’s vigilante justice has now snowballed into a diplomatic row.
Kejriwal, who was expected to reprimand his minister, went all out to protect him. Resorting to an ‘indefinite strike’ outside the Rail Bhavan, he held the capital to ransom and inconveniencing the same ‘aam aadmi’ that he vowed to protect. After two days, he withdrew but only after a threat to the Republic Day celebrations and fuelling a national debate over ‘anarchy’.
Even today, Kejriwal and his law minister remain defiant and his ‘aam aadmi’ followers miffed.
Rate Kejriwal's stand on his controversial law minister:
Click NEXT to read further...
Not tolerating inner-party dissent
Only a month after coming into power, the party fell prey to infighting. AAP’s rebel MLA Vinod Kumar Binny left Kejriwal red-faced as went public with his accusations calling him a liar and a dictator.
He even demanded that Somnath Bharti be sacked.
Kejriwal accused him of sulking over a cabinet berth and after issuing a showcause notice expelled him from the party on Monday.
Rate AAP government's decision to expel rebel MLA Vinod Kumar Binny:
Click NEXT to read further...
Kejriwal retweets a controversy
As Kejriwal completed one month in office on January 28, he woke up to yet another controversy.
He received flak for retweeting music director Vishal Dadlani, who said on Twitter, "Stuck between a moron and a murderer....what now, India!?"
Dadlani was referring to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's television interview and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who was in Mumbai attending a function from Lata Mangeshkar.
The BJP wasted no time in slamming Kejriwal. Nirmala Sitharamam has warned the chief minister that he must be "careful about what he tweets."
And what does the 'aam aadmi' think? He expects more discretion from you, Mr CM.
Rate Kejriwal's decision to retweet the controversial remark on Modi and Rahul:
TOP photo features you missed last week
Click on MORE to see another PHOTO features...