When you'll go ...

When you'll go
I'll break myself into pieces.
Let one piece become you & another one me,
We'll interact in all possible ways.

I do have uncountable wishes
I'll fulfil each one of them in most beautiful ways.
I have become you
And you remain yourself.

You reside inside me so deeply,

And the depth will continue to grow.

I'll continue to get wet in the shower of your angelic twinkle.  

I wonder how I'll find out myself among those pieces.

And, if I get fail,

I'll sit quietly & cherish all the memories with a hope,

May be in some distant future, or in some other world,

You & I could be more than just people we used to know.  

Stay as you are

I can’t remember what it was like before you

Now I know what it’s like to live a moment.

I have got new eyes to see the world differently.

I've found a reason for me, to change who I used to be.

Don’t want to change you

Stay as you are slow like a gentle breeze, or a passion

A little silky, full of fragrance

I want to drench myself in your rain and get dissolved in it.

I know this will going to end one day.

You will go, leaving so much inside me,

And a bit of me will stay in you, to cherish our togetherness.

So smile for me all the time & believe we will meet again.

She Exists

I watched her as she struggled to tuck the strands behind her ears.

She failed miserably every time

Her deep-set eyes, the colour of charcoal, were wide with worry.

I look at her with a hope

She made me feel something familiar

Something untouched with fairly milky white complexion

Her beauty seems to increase with every breath I took

It overpassed the limits my imagination could stretch

It made me question if what I am seeing is real
I only knew it was true by the way that I feel.
Her beauty was so vast and can't be concealed

Her shine flashed like rays & made me blind for a few moments.

Heaven on Earth I was not aware 

until I met a girl that was crafted with such care. 

The curious case of Nitish Kumar

It wouldn't be wrong to say that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar seems to be one of the most confused politician of recent time. Few months before the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Nitish played the biggest gamble of his political life and broke all ties with alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party opposing the elevation of Narendra Modi as the PM face of NDA. That decision was part of his optimism stemmed from favorable reports he was receiving from ground that by doing so he would get total support from Muslims which in turn pay him rich electoral dividend.

The actual verdict showed that Nitish was way off the mark in his political assessment and ended up with 2 seats in Loksabha elections. A thumping BJP win on the other hand in Bihar, even with a realignment of rivals, will give it positive vibes heading into a series of assembly elections this year and create a strong launchpad for Bihar in 2015.

In 2005, the JDU-BJP combine scripted a new chapter in Bihar’s history by ending Lalu’s 15-year reign and formed government with the agenda of ‘Good Governance’. Nitish’s first reign (2005-10) focused on improving law and order, strengthening institutions weakened by Lalu’s regime, and removing political interference from the State’s bureaucratic machinery. As law and order improved, Muslims became confident that an NDA regime wouldn’t discriminate against them and women felt safer on the streets.

There is no doubt that Nitish Kumar has brought a positive change in Bihar and because of that people had started seeing in a bigger role that too in center. But time has changed now, BJP along with Ramvilas Paswan’s LJP is in power in center while Nitish enjoying power with the support of same Lalu Prasad Yadav for whom he used to say that during the RJD regime, people seldom ventured out in the night hours but under his regime, people were on the streets even after midnight.

Elections are pending in Bihar this year and Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad are in "undo-the-past" mode. Realizing their opponent would go overboard on reminding people of their past enmity, the bitter have started persuading people that the past would not be repeated. On the first day of 2015, Nitish pledged he would not allow the "Jungle Raj" (lawlessness) to resurface despite taking Lalu in his boat. Today, Lalu urged masses not to be scared of him.

Nitish’s sanguinity is solely based on electoral arithmetic. A combined Janata Parivar is expecting votes from, among others, Yadavs, Kurmis, Mahadalits, Muslims and Most Backward Classes (MBCs). These groups together constitute nearly 60 per cent of the state’s population. Interestingly, last two election cycles (2004 and 2009) have shown that there is 50 per cent probability of assembly elections following the trend of the preceding Lok Sabha elections.

Whatever may be the result, there is no doubt that Lalu Yadav will surely manage to gain something out of it. Also, BJP will retain its upper caste votes and will manage to get some of the vote from other castes because of anti-incumbency and Modi’s charisma among the youth. But the real mystery of this whole show revolves around Nitish Kumar. He may or may not, get enough seats for third consecutive time but one battle he is set to lose is the clash of perception.

There was a time when Nitish was seen as a person of high integrity having clean image. But now his association with Lalu Yadav is raising several questions among the people of Bihar. Even if Nitish manages to win Bihar this time, he will never be able to get back the badge of ‘Susashan Purush’ at the national level. Some of Nitish' supporters seem to feel that Lalu has become bit of a burden on the Bihar CM now. Their alliance is weighing Nitish down heavily and may erode his supporter base. Also, It is understood that Lalu is backing Nitish for an anti-BJP front, not as him as the CM.  The BJP leaders are amused by the alliance of Lalu and Nitish and they can be seen saying very often that “After the alliance with the RJD, the government is providing patronage to criminals”.

Brand Nitish and brand Lalu evoke contrasting responses in Bihar. Even after years of dilution, they retain their appeal across the state. Merger of contrasting brands tend to create confusion. Biharis are still clueless about what will the merged brand stand for. Will it be closer to brand Nitish with a clear focus on development? Or will the brand Lalu that has so far stood for a particular kind of social justice and communal harmony prevail? If the confusion persists, people may find it hard to identify with the merged entity.

IIT Jodhpur: Hub of agitation not education

Recently, Chairman of IIT Bombay’s Board of Governors Anil Kakodkar said he had resigned because he did not want to be part of the selection process of IIT directors which was “too casual” and like “running a lottery”. He didn’t name but we all know HRD Minister Mrs. Smriti Irani was his target.

Indian Institute of Technology, commonly known as IITs are India’s finest technical institutions but these days, they are in news for wrong reasons. One of the recently opened among 15 IITs, IIT Jodhpur is facing the heat these days, as the students and the faculty members are demanding institute’s Director Prof. C.V.R. Murty resignation accusing him of dictatorship, egotism, autocracy, and favoritism.

For the last 1.5 years, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur has not seen even single permanent faculty recruitment while as many as 16 faculty members have been sacked. IIT-J students are protesting against the dismal situation of the institute and are demanding termination of the ‘Dictator’ Director. IIT Jodhpur has a faculty-student ratio of 1:18 as against the IIT requirement of 1:8.

IIT Jodhpur has witnessed 4 student protests during the tenure of the current director. A dialogue was initiated for negotiations where minutes of the meetings were not recorded even after repeated requests. Moreover, the dialogue concluded with promises being made that were never fulfilled.

Competent and faculty members conducting phenomenal research are terminated and their places are not filled in for. Moreover, the faculty members are subjected to mental harassment and such in hostile circumstances have been are created that the faculties are left with no option but to resign. It is needless to say, that research cannot be carried out in such a non-conducive environment where the scientists of the institute have to undergo a tremendous and constant emotional trauma, mental stress. They are blatantly disrespected and their research is termed as unnecessary and inconsequential by the director himself.

Director has exhibited several instances of taking out personal vengeance on the students and faculty who have raised their voice. For instance, Ranveer, A PhD student was not given who was the Secretary, Student’s Gymkhana the requisite NoC for continuing his research work under the faculty who resigned and joined IIT Kharagpur (Dr. Bibhas; refer to 1.2). In another case a student could not pursue his internship in a prestigious company because he was not given his NoC for reasons unknown.

Two most ingenious hardware labs at IIT Jodhpur were closed down; the guides of the PhD students have been recklessly terminated. Their years of research were discredited and they were asked to change their domain of research and a new PhD guide within a week. It is common knowledge that the PhD is pursued in a very niche / exclusive domain and more often than not, the guide cannot be replaced for, leaving the students helpless and highly uncertain about the future direction of their research. Some students have had to change their guides 3-4 times. There is another case wherein a PhD student who went to Japan for an internship was kept in dark about the specifics of the guidelines regarding the internship and was eventually terminated for no fault of his.

Even for tiniest of issues, direct approval from the director is necessary. For instance, arranging local transport for a guest speaker under the Gymkhana and its budget. Even the Coordinator, Student’s Affairs does not have the authority to make the approval. Moreover, when and if the document does reach the directorate; grammatical, indentation and formatting errors are pointed out and permission letters are sent back for redrafting, even 20 times in some cases. As a consequence, several workshops / lectures were canceled because budget and (or) permissions for them could not be obtained at the required time.

The System Science program at IIT Jodhpur was established in 2011, under the leadership of the then Director, Prof. PK Kalra. With a sanctioned strength of 40. The first batch, which will be graduating in May 2015, has performed exceptionally well on all fronts. In the ongoing placement season, 70% of the students have already been placed, in renowned companies. Several other students, have also obtained admits for MS from prominent universities around the world. However, Prof. Murty’s taking over has proved a death-blow to the program. With 20 faculty members, Center of Excellence in Systems Science was the largest faculty group in IIT Jodhpur, but today, it has become 4 faculty members only, due to the frequent terminations, and resignations by faculty members citing harassment by Prof. Murty had proposed the closure of the center in early 2014, and stopping intake to the programs, which was opposed by the then Academic Senate. However, he managed to get a reduction in its strength and send a negative word to the public about the program. However, in November 2014, the Board of Governors, on Prof. Murty’s suggestions, chose to close the center, which was communicated to the stakeholder as late as February 2015.

Prof. P.K. Kalra took steps right in 2011 to establish an incubator for startups and
to promote entrepreneurship. But Prof. Murty closed down the incubator, which was inaugurated by the Hon. President of India and the former Education Minister. He never gave any public statement as to why, or that he is closing it down. Instead, the companies which were being incubated there were not given the entire funding that they were promised. And also, any money spent on these companies has been deducted from salaries of the staff, which were responsible for the incubator.

When contacted, Students of IIT Jodhpur complained that there have been repeated successful attempts to curb their freedom and suppress their protests. Following a student protest a “code of conduct” was introduced that violates an individual’s right to speech and association. Students were made to end their protests by making promises that have not yet been fulfilled. As an attempt to curb the social media buzz against the current protests, the “higher authorities” blocked access to twitter and facebook on the institute network on April 3, 2015.

Agitating students of IIT Jodhpur have appealed to President Pranab Mukherjee and the HRD Ministry to remove Director CVR Murti for his “dictatorial attitude” to ensure the growth of the institute and putting the academics and research back on track. After lot of consultations, HRD ministry tried to sort out the matter by sending a 3 member committee to IIT Jodhpur but that too went in vain. Anger among agitating students are still high and they are not ready for any compromise.

Note: I did this story for Janta Ka Reporter and the original story can be read at given link: http://www.jantakareporter.com/india/iit-jodhpur-hub-of-agitation-not-education

The other side of AAP

Aam Aadmi Party was born with a pledged commitment towards democracy and transparency. Its core ideology revolves around curbing corruption and establishing ‘Swaraj’. Since its formation, AAP proclaimed to be the only party which used to involve people’s consent in decision making. It always enjoys the support of intellectual class of the country. People have seen it as a hope; they put their all faith in it and served it wholeheartedly. Sadly, today the case is not same.  If the recent developments are any indication, the party, which was perceived to be different and cashed it in this perception, now seems to be no different from its counterparts.

From last one month, there was a tussle going on among the senior leaders of party. On one side Arvind Kejriwal, party’s national convener with his coterie accusing others of anti-party activities while on the other side Yogender Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, two of AAP’s very senior and respect leaders questioning the autocracy of Arvind Kejriwal. Yesterday the fight turned ugly when four of party founder members including Yadav and Bhushan thrown of national executive of the party.

What comes out till now shows that Arvind Kejriwal seriously lacks the leadership skills. His autocratic style of functioning could work in an ‘Andolan’ but can’t work in a political party. Today, he is the Chief Minister of Delhi and enjoys support of majority of volunteers but that is not enough for him. If we go by the trend of social media then many of the volunteers and well wishers of AAP are angry with the way Arvind has handled this matter. Many of them are standing behind Yadav and Bhushan. Even few of the Delhi MLAs and one MP from Punjab are openly backing Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan. This clearly indicates, party is on the verge to getting divided.

One thing which is easily predictable, that Arvind Kejriwal thinks he can work well in Delhi and gain his lost ground. It is true that people have a weak memory and party infighting is not an issue directly related with them. But here things are different. What happens in last few days has just shattered the credibility of Arvind Kejriwal as a leader. Today’s politics is all about perception and now, AAP seems to be similar to all the parties which were accused by them for autocracy and lack of internal democracy.  

By going in details of the problems AAP is facing, it is clear that Yadav-Bhushan camp wants to keep principles on the upper side rather than winning elections and on the other side, Kejriwal thinks politics is all about winning election. For any other party, Kejriwal’s view seems to be right but that is not the case here with AAP. This party was never formed to become another ‘election machine’ infact it came into existence to change the rules of politics and make it clean and transparent.

Arvind Kejriwal has to understand that AAP has just won Delhi for now and there is a long way to go if he really wishes to see a corruption free well developed India. He has signaled in his very first speech after becoming CM that he wants to focus on Delhi for now and turn it into a model state. Theoretically, it seems to be the easiest way to grow big instantly but after a time period. But in a diverse county like India, winning elections on the basis of work done in some other state is not an easy task. This is the time when Arvind Kejriwal should start building leaders in other states too and act like a leader, who is even ready to work with people having distant point of view.

It would have been much better if Kejriwal camp could have answer the questions raised  by Yadav and Bhushan before kicking them out from the top decision making body of party. No doubt, their questions have enough weight and if not rectified quickly, then in coming time AAP has to suffer because of that. 

Personality Driven Politics: A Contradictory truth of today’s India

On 14^th February 2015, it was a sunny morning in Delhi. Thousands of people flocked to a rally at historical Ramlila Maidan, not because they were asked to, but because they wanted to be a part of the jubilation, the ecstasy of a victory, the celebration of a man who had created history. And the moment in which the man himself arrived, the crowd which was holding its breath for long, roared in approval. The decibel levels reached a feverish pitch with the crowd chanting in unison. Yes, here the man is none other than Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi.

The whole nation has witnessed the same charisma for Narendra Modi during the 2014 general elections. This throws up an important question. Has the electorate evolved over vote bank politics and has moved towards leader driven politics?

Be it Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal, Nitish Kumar or Jayalalitha, they all possess some sort of magnetism which attracts people towards them. Be it on a national level or state level, all the elections won by any of the parties have one common thing; the party having the more face value won the election. And this is the reason, day by day Congress is downgrading to its lowest since formation because it has failed to build up Rahul Gandhi as leader of the masses.

Even if you could bring your attention towards the slogans chooses by parties during elections; ‘Har Har Modi’, ‘Abki Baar Modi Sarkar’, ‘Paanch Saal Kejriwal’, etc makes convincing that election nowadays fought in-between personalities not parties or ideologies.

It is well understood that people have become more mature with their political understanding and now they want a credible leader. But that credibility should be counted by the way in which leader follows his party’s ideology? What’s happening is completely different, wherever elections have won on a leader’s face value, that leader is dictating and deciding on which ideology the party and government will run.

Many think that Narendra Modi has come like a savior for BJP and is being too lucky for the party but later in time, people will realize its consequences. BJP, largely described as ‘Party with a Difference’ has completely lost all of its ‘Differences’ under Modi’s rule. There remains no democracy inside the party, galaxy of leadership has been sidelined and it will not be premature to say now ‘Modi is BJP & BJP is Modi’. It speaks a lot about a party largely known as a political offshoot of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

It’s not just about BJP, every other political party works under a ‘Boss’ these days. It would suffice to say that the outcome of all recent elections was largely polarized by the voter’s faith in one man. A political pundit will tell you that Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi had done it in the past. But it was past and India has seen so many colors of politics after that.

However, this might be the beginning of a new era in Indian politics. An era where individual leaders with public backing might be more influential than a group of convincing leaders, where the concentration of leadership in the hands of a select few might be the way forward, where coalitions might not make as much sense as they used to, where the electorate is more volatile and demanding than ever.

With a great mandate comes an even greater level of expectation.

दिल्ली चुनाव, 'आप' और हम !

अगले कुछ ही घंटों में देश की राजधानी दिल्ली के लोग अपनी सरकार का चुनाव करने के लिए मतदान स्थल की ओर कूच करना शुरू कर देंगे| कहने को तो दिल्ली एक बेहद ही छोटा राज्य है मगर पूरे देश के लोग वहां के राजनीतिक हालात पे नज़र बनाये हुए हैं| ये कहना अतिश्योक्ति नहीं होगा के 2015 का दिल्ली विधानसभा चुनाव आज़ाद भारत के सबसे रोमांचक चुनावों में से एक है| कारण साफ़ है इन चुनावों में एक छोटे से कद काठी वाले ‘आम आदमी’ अरविन्द केजरीवाल ने देश की दो सबसे ताकतवर और पुरानी राजनीतिक पार्टियों की जड़ों को हिला दिया है|

कुछ ही महीने पहले जनता का अभूतपूर्व समर्थन लेकर देश की सत्ता में काबिज़ होने वाले नरेन्द्र मोदी की चमक भी अरविन्द केजरीवाल के सामने फीकी पड़ती हुई दिख रही है| चुनावी सर्वेक्षण भी बता रहे हैं की तीन साल पहले जन्मी ‘आम आदमी पार्टी’ अपने नेता अरविन्द केजरीवाल के नेतृत्व में अगली सरकार बनाने जा रही है| लेकिन जनता के मिजाज़ को टटोल पाना इतना आसन नहीं है, अभी भी ऊँट किसी भी करवट बैठ सकता है|

दरअसल दिल्ली एक ऐसा शहर है जहां देश के हर राज्य, वर्ग, धर्म, जात का काफी अच्छे अनुपात में प्रतिनिधित्व है और इसी कारण दिल्ली को ‘लघु भारत’ भी कहा जाता है| इसी कारण से यहाँ के राजनीतिक हालत बाकी राज्यों से काफी भिन्न हैं| यहाँ क्षेत्र और धर्मं के नाम पर लामबंदी करना काफी मुश्किल है और शायद इसी वजह से यहाँ पर मुद्दों के आधार पर चुनाव लड़ने का चलन है|

मुद्दे इस बार भी है और शायद वही हैं जो हर चुनाव में होते है| लेकिन इस बार हालात थोड़े से भिन्न हैं क्योंकि इस बार सीधी लड़ाई केजरीवाल और मोदी के बीच है| वैसे तो मोदी देश के प्रधानमंत्री हैं लेकिन दिल्ली चुनाव उनके लिए प्रतिष्ठा का सवाल बन चुका है| मुकाबला कांग्रेस से होता और हार जाते तो शायद फिर भी पचा लेते लेकिन 3 साल पहले जन्मी आम आदमी पार्टी से पराजित होना उन्हें भी किसी हालत में मंजूर नहीं होगा|

दूसरी और आम आदमी पार्टी और अरविन्द केजरीवाल अपनी पुरानी गलतियों से सबक लेकर जनता का खोया विश्वास वापस जीतते हुए दिख रहे हैं| ज्यादातर राजनीतिक पंडित भी आम आदमी पार्टी की जीत की भविष्यवाणी कर रहे हैं| अगर आम आदमी पार्टी दिल्ली का दंगल जीत लेती है तो शायद अरविन्द केजरीवाल आने वाले समय में देश के महत्त्वपूर्ण नेताओं के श्रेणी में सबसे आगे खड़े नज़र आएँगे| कारण साफ है की दिल्ली की जीत उन्हें राष्ट्रीय पटल पे एक नयी पहचान दिलाएगी|

मैं (और शायद आप भी) दिल्ली के मतदाता नहीं हैं फिर भी हमारे लिए दिल्ली विधासभा चुनाव काफी महत्त्वपूर्ण हैं| आज देश में विपक्ष की हालत बहुत कमज़ोर है, या यूँ कहें की विपक्ष बिलकुल ‘दन्त विहीन’ है| देश की सबसे पुरानी पार्टी कांग्रेस तो इस लायक भी नहीं बची की संसद में ‘विपक्ष के नेता’ का पद अपने पास रख सके| दिल्ली की जीत देश को ‘आम आदमी पार्टी’ के रूप में एक मजबूत विपक्ष देगी क्योंकि ये कांग्रेस के बाद एकमात्र ऐसी पार्टी है जिसकी मौजूदगी शायद देश के हर कोने में है और इसकी राजनीति बाकी दलों से भी काफी भिन्न है| ‘आप’ की बुनियाद ही राजनीतिक शुचिता और भ्रष्टाचार मुक्त भारत के सपने को साकार करने के लिए पड़ी है और इसके नेता अभी तक तो सही दिशा में जाते दिख रहे हैं|

अरविन्द केजरीवाल की लोकप्रियता आज अपने चरम पर है| भले ही वो पिछले साल बनारस में नरेन्द्र मोदी के खिलाफ चुनाव हार गए हों लेकिन वहां उनको मिले लाखों वोट इस बात को दर्शातें हैं की देश के बाकी हिस्सों में भी उनकी आवाज़ सुनी जाती है| मैंने कई बार कुछ तठस्थ लोगों से अरविन्द केजरीवाल पे बात की और मेरे उन निजी वार्तालापों के आधार पे जो एक राय बनी वो केजरीवाल को ‘नायक’ का दर्जा देने के लिए काफी है| पहला, लगभग सभी लोग (उनके घोर आलोचक भी) इस बात पे सहमत दिखते हैं की अरविन्द केजरीवाल इमानदार व्यक्ति हैं| जब भ्रष्टाचार हमारे देश की जड़ों को खोखला कर रहा हो तब एक इमानदार नेता की मौजूदगी राजनीति में विश्वास पैदा करती है| दूसरा, अरविन्द केजरीवाल का व्यक्तित्व जो की देश के एक आम आदमी के समकक्ष है| उनका पहनावा देश के हर आम आदमी को ये विश्वास दिलाता है की ये व्यक्ति हम में से ही कोई एक है|

सही मायने में दिल्ली चुनाव देश के हर नागरिक के लिए महत्वपूर्ण हैं| इन चुनावों के नतीजे अगले एक दशक के राजनीतिक भविष्य की बुनियाद रखेंगे| अगर भाजपा जीतती है तो शायद अगले 10 साल तक मोदी को चुनौती दे पाना किसी के लिए भी आसान नहीं होगा और अगर आम आदमी पार्टी जीतती है तो शायद ये देश में एक नए राजनीतिक युग की शुरुआत होगी|

फैसला दिल्ली की जनता को ही करना है या यूँ कहें की देश की राजधानी होने का सही फ़र्ज़ अब दिल्ली को निभाना है| वहां की जनता का हर एक वोट देश की नयी तस्वीर लिखने में सहायक होगा| अगर आम आदमी पार्टी के 49 दिन के पिछले शासन के आधार पे बात की जाए तो अरविन्द केजरीवाल का मुख्यमंत्री बनना दिल्ली में भ्रष्टाचार के खात्मे की गारंटी होगा| और लाजमी है उनकी जनलाभकारी नीतियों का प्रभाव देश की बाकी राज्य सरकारों पे भी पड़ेगा और इसका सबसे ज्यादा फायदा गरीबों को मिलेगा| याद रखिये आप दिल्ली के वोटर हो या नहीं इससे फर्क नहीं पड़ता लेकिन इन चुनावों का नतीजा आपके जीवन को जरुर प्रभावित करेगा| 

Arvind Kejriwal: Common Man's Hearthrob and a Walking Revolution

In the year 2011, an angry young man wearing long old shirts and pants appeared on TV screens with the sayings which are close to a common man’s heart. He, along with Anna Hazare took a stand against corruption and started fighting for an independent body ‘Lokpal’. We all know him as Arvind Kejriwal, Former Chief Minister of Delhi and having a resemblance of an ordinary educated middle class man, firmly aligned with values like justice, equality, truth and transparency. He is also the most lingering personality who has proactively occupied Indian media in last 4 years.

The faith and credibility which he earned among the common people are the domino effect of the sacrifices which he made during his early stage of life. Reminiscences of a Man who has studied from prestigious IIT, got a job at Tata Steel and later worked as an IRS officer, what else has remained after achieving all this for a common middle class Indian. But for Arvind all these accomplishments were not sufficient as he had some other plans in his mind.

Arvind left the job at Tata Steels as he found the same was not his cup of tea. He considered joining Indian Administrative Services could give him a chance to enter into the system and to give back something to the society. Just after giving the exams, he went to Kolkata and joined the Ramakrishna Mission and Nehru Yuva Kendra. It was to some degree out of the box as everybody around him was planning to go abroad to earn money, but he had his own beliefs and he was so desperate to work for the social cause.

While working as an IRS officer, he started an NGO ‘Parivartan’ and it was his first footstep towards the larger pictures for which he was looking for. Later he quit IRS also and dedicates himself completely in the social work. Arvind won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership in 2006 for his contribution to the enactment of the Right to Information Act and for his efforts to empower the poorest citizens of India.

As his father Gobind Ram Kejriwal, a retired engineer, describes Arvind settled uneasily into life as a bureaucrat. Unlike the other officers he worked with, Kejriwal refused to use peons; he cleaned his own desk and emptied his own dustbin. He avoided office parties and other social gatherings, preferring to sit at a nearby tea stall. Arvind doesn’t celebrate his own birthday or those of his two children. He is full of fury against the corrupt system is where the poor getting poorer and rich is getting richer.

Life is full of miracles and this short little man has more to achieve. In the year 2012, after getting frustrated with the government’s unwillingness to bring a strong Lokpal bill, he formed Aam Aadmi Party and in the span of a year he has successfully been able to become the CM of Delhi state. After ruling Delhi for successful 49 days, he resigned from his post of CM as his government does not have the majority in assembly to pass the laws which they promised in their manifesto. His decision to quit the government has been criticized by a large section of people and that anger cost his party too to lose badly in 2014 general elections.

Arvind has transformed his rage against the corrupt system in a more logical way to attain his aspiration of a real democracy where people have all the rights in their hands. No doubt, he has a vision, but not aids which can help him to reach as many as people. Arvind single handedly managed to fight with the most powerful political guns of India and the strength that conspired him to stand firmly in every situation came from the rage which he has against the current political system.

He demonstrates what is called “Bottom to top” approach, a style that focuses, primarily, on the growth and well being of its people and its communities. While traditional politics generally involve “Top to bottom” approach where the exercise of power done for their own benefits.

Now again, Delhi is on the verge of elections and Arvind Kejriwal’s fate will get decided by election results. He is trying hard to win the lost trust of people and opinion polls are showing that slowly and steadily his words have started getting acknowledged. Kejriwal seems pleased with the success of his campaign strategy and confident enough of winning the trust of people in the form of votes. 

The glamour of Arvind Kejriwal’s has made BJP to change those strategies with which they managed to win in the recent past. Modi is no more the center of attraction in these elections, but the issues are. In fact, the entire Modi cabinet is trying hard to beat a man who calls himself a ‘Common Man’. In a way, Kejriwal has won, not electorally but morally.