Twenty days have elapsed from the incarceration of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, firstly in ED’s custody and thereafter in judicial custody. L’ affaire Aam Adami Party and Arvind Kejriwal have been controversial for over a year. He and his party have been claiming from housetops for the purity and transparency in public life. But nobody ever imagined that AAP and particularly its leader Kejriwal would plumb to such an unfathomable depth of immorality and opacity. Now leaders of AAP are saying that Kejriwal will continue to run the government from jail. However, the question is how will it be feasible? Will it not be a gross violation of constitutional propriety?
Mr Kejriwal had cocked the snook to the summons of the ED nine times and at long last he appeared at the directions of the court. If he had nothing to conceal in the liquor gate scam, he could have appeared at the first call but always avoided appearing by saying that the summonses of the ED were nothing but tools of harassment. Instead of assisting the ED in investigating the multi-crore liquor scam, he started thumping his chest by blaming it (ED) for working at the behest of a political party in power at the Centre.
In fact, in law, while the prosecution must prove the accused person to be guilty of the crime at the same time it is also the onus on the accused to prove his innocence. Kejriwal and other leaders of his party are in the dock, and it is a general perception that they have made money by illegal means. Their recent acts and insistence on running the government from jail further reinforce the perception of the public that the AAP government consisted of a bunch of criminals and corrupt persons. After all, jails are meant for criminals and not for constitutional functionaries. Seeing the conduct of Kejriwal and his party one finds that even Lalu Yadav, Hemant Soren and Jayalalithaa have been far better than these lumpen elements.
While in jail, Kejriwal will be kept as per jail manuals, then how can he hold the cabinet meeting from the prison cell? This shows that he and his party have no sense of shame in harping on running the government from the prison cell. This also reflects insecurity and the mens rea of Kejriwal otherwise he could have pleaded for the appointment of any person to be his successor as the Chief Minister of Delhi.
It is more shocking that why Lieutenant Governor is keeping silent over the constitutional breakdown of this magnitude. Why is he allowing the wife of the Chief Minister to sit on his chair to read out his letters and messages without any constitutional obligations? Kejriwal should have been dismissed, if he declined to resign, on the day he was put in judicial custody.
The less said about the non-sensical speech of another AAP leader Sanjay Singh after his release on bail the better. His speech contained no substance; it was all froth and fury. It was hilariously ridiculous from beginning to end. His logic was full of the bravado of a dishonest politician.
Nobody had thought that a party which started with claims of upholding high moral virtues in public would go down in history with the abominable low level of immorality.