Kejriwal: Political opportunist or cornered activist?

He will be naming his new political party on November 26, but social activist Arvind Kejriwal chose October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, to make a public announcement about the outfit. Although he has not disclosed too many details about the party till now, but he has made one thing clear. That elected representatives from his party would lead a life as simple as Mahatma Gandhi, minus the red beacon flashing cars and the posse of security guards.

Tough promise but Kejriwal believes he can deliver on it. The confidence perhaps steps from the fact that Kejriwal himself has seemingly chosen to live quite an austere life. Photographs showing him sleeping on the floors of a railway platform are being widely circulated on social networking sites.

An employee of Tata Steel till 1992, Kejriwal qualified the Civil Services Examination after completing his B.Tech in mechanical engineering from IIT Kharagpur. He joined the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) soon after but quit his cushy job in 2006 and opted for a life of struggle and activism. He floated two NGOs Parivartan and Public Cause Research Foundation - both working toward ensuring transparency in governance.

Arvind Kejriwal along with Aruna Roy are credited for the successful implementation of the Right to Information Act (RTI). The Act was passed in 2001 and became a law in October 2005.

Many believe that he was the actual mastermind behind the Jan Lokpal Bill and ceaselessly worked towards gathering many like minded people including Anna Hazare to espouse the anti-graft crusade. The series of hunger strikes and protests organised by India Against Corruption from April 2011 found tremendous support from the middle class across the nation. Arvind Kejriwal overnight became a national hero thanks to 24X7 media coverage.

However, when repeated hunger fasts and protests failed to elicit the required response from the ruling establishment, Arvind Kejriwal announced the plan to launch his own political outfit which would only field candidates with a clean public record. Many termed it a desperate move of a cornered activist, others called it a pre-planned move of a political opportunist.

Whatever the case, the announcement managed to create deep fissures between Team Anna and virtually brought the people's movement against corruption to a standstill. Reports of rift began to surface between Anna and Kejriwal soon after, leading to a parting of ways between the two anti-graft leaders. Hazare even disbanded Team Anna once the people's movement took a political turn.

 “Three times Anna fasted and we fasted once but these political leaders did not bring Lokpal bill. We did not have any other option but to form a political party,” said Arvind.

Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday launched his political party but is yet to finalise a name for the outfit. He said that the name of the party will be announced on November 26, the day on which the Constitution was adopted in 1949.