Kejriwal-Modi : They love to hate each other

Congress remains as mute spectators when infant AAP scripts David and Goliath battle with ‘Modi Sarkar’

Despite of having ‘Grand Old Parties’ in a row in India, it is always Aam Admi Party (AAP), which is giving a tough time to the popular ‘Modi Sarkar’ and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

As AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal rightly pointed out, ‘Modi regime has failed to shake our resolve’.

The satirical shows say that Arvind Kejriwal don’t even look at the mirror as he would end up in yelling ‘Modiiiiii’ after seeing his own reflection. Though not in public, Narendra Modi has the same feelings for Kejriwal

Upset with the piling cases and police action against his party members and MLAs, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal released a video statement to volunteers and supporters of Aam Aadmi Party suggesting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could get him “killed”.

Referring to a series of arrests of AAP MLAs and workers in the last one-and-a-half years, Kejriwal dubbed Modi as the “mastermind” behind the “cycle of oppression” against them and alleged that he was hell bent on “vanquishing” the party.

Kejriwal’s attacks on Modi came in the wake of back-to-back arrests of two AAP MLAs taking the total to 11 and filing of FIRs against Delhi Commission for Women Chief Swati Maliwal and Income Tax raid on Chhattarpur legislator Kartar Singh Tanwar’s premises.

Kejriwal released the video through AAP’s YouTube channel.

Kejriwal alleged that the AAP was under great pressure amid continuing raids and interrogation by agencies such as the Anti-Corruption Branch, CBI, Income Tax Department and Delhi Police. “If so many departments are after us, there must be some mastermind behind all of this. Who is this mastermind? Amit Shah? Modiji? PMO? Amit Shah is doing all of this on Modiji’s instructions,” said Kejriwal.

“Insiders have told us that Modiji is very frustrated with us and is very angry. So he is not able to think logically about this. So he is not using his mind. He is making decisions without thinking them through and in frustration. This is dangerous for the country. Is the country in safe hands? The more I think about it, I am unable to sleep,” said Kejriwal.

Kejriwal then had a grim message to his party leaders. “This is a critical time. All of you introspect and also discuss it with your families. The face-off is set to get dirtier in the time to come. They can go to any extent. They may kill us. They may even kill me. They could do anything. Talk to your families,” he said.

If you are a follower of Arvind Kejriwal on Twitter, you cannot miss his ‘obsession’ with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the past, he has called Modi “a coward and a psychopath” and recently, after the appointment of Chetan Chauhan as NIFT chairman, Kejriwal tweeted saying that Chauhan is another addition to his list of sycophants. A few days back, he posted yet another tweet with a video, in which he said: “As long as Modi ji is out of the country, Delhi is at peace” and the list goes on.

On June 27, Narendra Modi was interviewed by Arnab Goswami and the two did NOT talk about Kejriwal and his allegations on Modi. Goswami didn’t mention the CM’s name so there was no question of PM bringing up the subject.

Modi vs Kejriwal

For many, the Centre’s stonewalling of the AAP government was initially perceived as an outcome of what is described as Modi’s unforgiving nature and his idea of power. This school of thought says the resounding defeat Kejriwal handed to Modi in the Delhi Assembly election was the latter’s first electoral setback since 2002, that it eroded the aura of invincibility around him, and diminished him just a bit as a political personality towering over the rest.

Not accustomed to eating humble pie, Modi took to wreaking vengeance on Kejriwal, denying him the Centre’s cooperation to govern Delhi, goes the argument. But politicians, Modi included, rarely embark on a course unless they stand to gain from it or, alternatively, damage their rivals.

It was Kejriwal who positioned himself as Modi’s rival after quitting as Delhi chief minister in early 2014. He dashed into Modi’s den of Gujarat, scrambled around the state before declaring that the development model of Gujarat was deeply flawed, accused him of favouring big business, and landed in Varanasi to contest against him, scripting a David versus Goliath battle.

As Kejriwal raised a veritable tempest, Modi remained silent, refusing to engage the challenger in the belief that doing so would enhance Kejriwal’s stature. It was Modi’s way of communicating to the nation that he did not think of Kejriwal as a rival who merited attention as, say, Rahul Gandhi did. Through the 2014 Lok Sabha campaign Modi referred to Kejriwal only once – that was when he described him as AK-49, which was promptly decoded to read: Arvind Kejriwal or AK who fired for only 49 days, a reference to his first term when he resigned.

However, the Delhi Assembly election altered Modi’s attitude and strategy to Kejriwal. He directly referred to Kejriwal as a Naxalite, and the BJP advertisements vituperatively targeted him. It was thought that, as always, the bitterness would be forgotten with the announcement of election results.

This wasn’t to be. No doubt, Modi lapsed into silence all over again, rarely responding to Kejriwal’s occasional provocative tweets. But then the pinpricks from the Centre began, culminating in the raid on Kumar and Kejriwal’s belligerent responses to it. A chill will now set into the relationship between the Centre and Delhi, freezing the Kejriwal government to a great extent.