Arvind Kejriwal — A Dauntless Political Brand

Guest op-ed by Samresh Kumar, written January 21, 2014 — during AAP's first Delhi government. The views expressed are the author's.

("AK45" refers to Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, then 45 years of age.)

What was happening in Delhi on January 21, 2014?

There are certain times in any nation's history which define and change its direction, and January 2014 was definitely one of those for India. What we were seeing in Indian politics was unprecedented: a party, AAP, formed barely a year before, was not only running the show in Delhi — the people of Delhi had overwhelmingly voted for them — but was also changing the way politics and governance was done in India.

On January 21, 2014, the Chief Minister of Delhi, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, along with all his cabinet ministers and AAP supporters, was on the second day of a non-violent protest in Delhi. The capital of India was at a standstill. All the ministers in the Delhi government were on the streets, braving the Delhi cold, asking for justice for the people and demanding that the Delhi police be made accountable.

Many criticized the "method" of AK and AAP — calling them anarchists, chief agitator, drama-baaz, resorting to cheap politics, Plan B of Congress, saying he should rather "work within the system" and act in a "constitutional manner," not like MNS or Naxalites. Let us delve deeper, under three headings: Intention, Method, and Effect.

What was his intention?

AK is not a career politician like the majority of current politicians in India. He is an ex-Income Tax commissioner who retired prematurely and helped legislate the very important RTI ("Right to Information") bill in India. He had been an honest and upright professional throughout — Congress and BJP, in the last year, had not managed to unearth any significant dirt on him.

For the last 10 years or so, he had fought from outside the system — for RTI, the Jan Lokpal bill, and more. Now, he was fighting from within. His intention was to have a government which is "Of the People, By the People and For the People" — at least one or two of which, if not all three, had been compromised in the majority of Indian states and definitely at the center. He wanted a government which makes life better for its citizens — not just to create massive wealth for himself or get his family members into plum posts, as the political class in general, across parties, had been resorting to.

His government had been in power for only 3 weeks and had taken massive positive strides across various departments: water distribution, power supply, education, "lal batti" VIP culture, corruption across public departments, and more. He and his team had been working day and night since coming to power — for the people who elected them, and not for themselves.

Was his method justified?

AK was criticized when he was fighting from outside for the Jan Lokpal bill and was told categorically that he should come and fight from within the system. He did — formed a party and contested the elections. Then the same people said it was easy to contest but very difficult to win even 2 seats in the Delhi assembly. Well, they won 28 seats out of 70 — second in 12 seats, and 10 of those they lost by a mere margin of less than 1,000 votes.

Then the same people said the election manifesto was a plain gimmick that could never be fulfilled. Well, they fulfilled most of their promises within 3 weeks of coming to power. How many parties can claim that?

They had been working within the system in areas where they had control — water, power, education, corruption in public offices, VIP culture, health and sanitation — but the law and order of Delhi was different. Having stayed in Delhi NCR for more than a decade and having been to a Delhi police station a couple of times (for a stolen car, etc.), the author had firsthand experience of how the police treats citizens who come to report a crime. Everyone knew how little trust people had in the Delhi police. The Delhi police needed to get its act right: it was for the security of the people, not just the VVIPs and the rich class, and not to be in cohorts with criminals.

So how does one shake the Delhi police system and start making it work? The author considered the options: write letters to the Home Ministry and Prime Minister to request the transfer of control of the Delhi police from the Central government to the state government (nothing would come of it — the central ministers wanted to keep the police as their personal privilege and protection force); or ask the Home Ministry to somehow improve the situation (the earlier Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, had tried this for years with no result — law and order went from bad to worse).

Having a dharna, a non-violent protest, is NOT unconstitutional. This is NOT taking the law into one's own hands. This is NOT similar to Naxalites or the "gunda-gardi" of parties like MNS.

What was the effect?

On-the-ground changes were visible ahead of the national elections in May 2014 and after the Delhi assembly election results of December 2013: parties like the BJP talked of fielding more "clean" candidates. High-caliber people from outside political families entered politics — not only in AAP but other parties — and were given voices and responsibility. Politicians were being made more accountable to their electorate. The media and the people debated real issues. People, especially the youth and white-collar voters, came out in droves to vote. AAP had created a massive positive effect on Indian politics through the vast support of the people of Delhi.

What came after?

The author urged readers to watch Kejriwal's January 18, 2014 interview with Rajdeep Sardesai — "a lot of the answers are provided by AK himself."

History, however, had twists in store. Kejriwal resigned as Chief Minister on February 14, 2014 — after just 49 days — when his Jan Lokpal bill was blocked in the assembly. AAP returned in the 2015 Delhi elections with a historic 67 of 70 seats, and Kejriwal served as CM again. He resigned in 2024 amid the Delhi liquor policy case, and AAP lost the February 2025 Delhi elections to the BJP.

Editor's note: the 2014 Facebook and LinkedIn profile links for the guest author no longer resolve and have been removed. The YouTube interview link is preserved. The op-ed is kept as originally written; post-2014 developments are added as verified outcomes.