Social activist Anna Hazare is full of praise for his one-time protege Arvind Kejriwal, who he says has not taken “a wrong step” after becoming the Delhi Chief Minister.
Mr. Hazare says Mr. Kejriwal is a man of “clean character and an idealist”, who changed the “common man’s appraoch” to politics.
“Arvind Kejriwal is a man of clean character who is committed to moral values in politics. I have not seen him take a wrong step during the last one year of his tenure as the Chief Minster,” Mr. Hazare said.
He said that Mr. Kejriwal, his comrade-in-arms in India against corruption movement, faces the challenge to take along good people in politics.
“He is an idealist. His performance as the Chief Minster so far is a positive achievement. To start a political party was earlier regarded as privilege of the rich. Arvind has changed the common man’s approach to politics. He is honest and transparent. Manish Sisodia (Deputy CM) is also a committed idealist. I want to see politics in the country getting freed from influence of money power,” Mr. Hazare told PTI in an interview.
Mr. Hazare and Mr. Kejriwal had fallen out following the latter’s decision to join active politics after floating a political party. However, subsequently there was a thaw and Mr. Hazare even gave some suggestions to Mr. Kejriwal which the latter included in the Jan Lokpal Bill brought by the Delhi government in December last year.
Mr. Hazare also rejected Mr. Kejriwal’s criticism by his detractors that the Delhi Chief Minister had little respect for the Constitution or the law.
“I do not agree that Arvind has no respect for the Constitution or law of the country. He has come from the movement and asserts his rights. To undertake Satyagraha is not anti-Constitution. He has not advocated violence as by Naxals to change the system,” he said.
The odd-even road rationing experiment undertaken by the Kejriwal government also came in for praise by Mr. Hazare.
“The even-odd number vehicles scheme introduced by the Delhi government should be adopted in all big cities. It deserves praise as it will help reduce pollution and traffic congestion. People should change their notions of personal status and make use of public transport,” he said.
The anti-corruption crusader refused to hazard a guess about Aam Aadmi Party’s prospects in assembly polls in Punjab, where the party plans to enter the fray in a big way.
“In Punjab, the problems being faced by farmers is a crucial issue. The politics in the state has been polarized. If AAP goes to elections with a pro-farmer policy, it will create a base for itself. I cannot say anything about prospects of success at this stage,” he said.
The plight of farmers, he said, was a serious issue and suicides being committed by them is a tragedy for the country.
The government should be made to draft policies in the interest of farmers and peaceful methods of Satyagraha or Jail Bharo should be adopted to highlight the issue, he said.
The 78-year-old Gandhian, also lamented the “plunging” level of political discourse in the country and said be it the Prime Minister or a Chief Minister everybody should maintain the dignity of his position and observe civility in politics.
“People question Arvind but what about the PM who does not even bother to reply to the letters addressed to him?” he said.
Mr. Kejriwal had recently called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “coward and psychopath” following a CBI raid at the office of his principal secretary Rajendra Kumar, drawing angry protests from the Centre and BJP.
