On Friday night, 48 days after he was sworn in as Delhi’s chief minister, an anarchist, Arvind Kejriwal calls it a day.
After younger brother Anil Ambani, now it was elder brother Mukesh Ambani’s turn to face the fury of Arvind Kejriwal. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s attack on Mukesh Ambani looks set to catapult the industrial heavyweight into a talking point this coming Lok Sabha elections.
Kejriwal’s latest barrage came on Friday night when he point the finger at both political parties – Congress and BJP – for playing into the hands of Ambani, against whom the AAP government had filed a criminal case some days ago over a gas pricing row. In his speech , he also articulate that Mukesh Ambani to be the person who runs this country’s government.
Kejriwal, while giving his “resignation” speech to party workers, said, “Mukesh Ambani had once said that Congress is his shop and he can buy anything from them.Since the last 10 years he was running the UPA government.” He said that Mukesh Ambani believed congress to be his shop and he can purchase what he wants from congress. The UPA has been run by Mukesh Ambani for the last 10 years.
Kejriwal also make a meal of the BJP for its close relations with Ambani. “Mukesh Ambani is behind Modi also. From where does Modi get so much money? Modi moves in helicopters. From where does he get money to conduct such huge rallies? When we raised fingers against Mukesh Ambani, Congress and BJP joined hands,” Kejriwal said as he got in touch with hundreds of party workers outside the AAP headquarters late on Friday night.
As the crowd rejoiced during his 30 minutes speech and yelled slogans like “Pehle Sheila haari thi, ab Modi ki baari hai” (First it was Sheila’s turn, now Modi is next), the AAP leader with his trademark muffler wrapped around his head counted the achievements of the 48-day AAP government.
Kejriwal’s consistent attacks on Ambani are reminiscent of the 1970s, in the past Congress leader and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi used the same strategy to attack her antagonist. Gandhi had contested elections in 1971-72, by dubbing her opponents as “agents” of industrial houses of the time. The idea was to showcase the nexus between her opponents and the capitalist industrial lobby – to a great extent what Kejriwal is doing now.
As times revolutionize, the strategy lost its focus and the era of commerce and reforms came in. The political channel of communication also changed as capitalist enterprise was no longer looked down upon.
However, with Kejriwal’s perception of Ambani as the capitalist master to Congress and BJP’s minion politicians, it looks like the Reliance head can look forward to being in the spotlight in the next few months.