Month: December 2013

The rise and rise of Arvind Kejriwal

Shivam VijLeave a comment

(This article by me first appeared in The Express Tribune on 26 December 2013.)

Arvind Kejriwal is the new Sachin Tendulkar. You throw him the most difficult googly and he sweeps it to add runs for his century. In 2011, he started a national anti-corruption movement with the specific aim of setting up an anti-corruption ombudsman called Lokpal. The movement’s public face and leader was Anna Hazare, a respected social leader, who like Gandhi, believes in fasting for politics. The critics said Anna is just a puppet and it’s Kejriwal’s movement, and that such sophistry showed Kejriwal (who takes oath as chief minister of Delhi tomorrow) had sinister motives. Continue reading “The rise and rise of Arvind Kejriwal” →

Tarun Tejpal’s spin doctors are trying to present him as victim rather than perpetrator

Shivam VijLeave a comment

(First published in Kafila and Outlookindia.com on December 2013.)

Unlike Justice (Retd.) Ashok Kumar Ganguly, Tarun Tejpal’s defenders cannot cry innocence given that Tejpal has confessed to his crime, albeit disputing the degree of it. He has even confessed having told his colleague that suffering the sexual assault was the “easiest way of keeping your job”. Even his two decades old comrade Shoma Choudhury is unable to defend him beyond saying that he has two versions. Never mind Tejpal’s ludicrous retractions. Continue reading “Tarun Tejpal’s spin doctors are trying to present him as victim rather than perpetrator” →