Even as an adamant Arvind Kejriwal kept telling the Election Commission that it will only take 90 seconds to replace the motherboard on the Electronic Voting Machines (or EVMs), the EC threw open the EVM ‘hackathon’ challenge to all political parties to showcase how the EVMs could possibly be tampered with…of course, under the usual technical and administrative safeguards put in place during elections.
Then again, Arvind Kejriwal taking a dig at democracy and mocking it is not a new news! Just a few days back, a belligerent AK — in an almost endearing Alice-in-Wonderland fashion — took the help of a dummy EVM and went on to demonstrate how it may be tampered with…And that too, right inside the Delhi Assembly. What he fails to understand (or maybe he does and thus deliberately sidesteps the question) is how can one tamper the EVM (read: open the EVM) during the actual elections. In fact, AAP themselves don’t believe that the EVMs can be tampered with…unless and until they are opened and the hardware is tinkered with.
Of course, this is not the first time that AK has made a mockery of democracy. Think about it: A man, who is supposed to have been a staunch supporter of RTIs and has forever been screaming himself hoarse demanding transparency in government, now has the audacity to stop the media personnels from attending his events.
What’s more: He has been shying away from the media glare as soon as news of his corruption hit the news stands. Shouldn’t a public representative — which I am sure Mr. Kejriwal realises he is — come out and provide answers to his voters. Or does Kejriwal believe that he is above and beyond the voters of Delhi? After all, who the hell are they or the nation to question him on corruption charges? [NOTE: The fact that he is a political figure and therefore accountable to the nation, is a concept alien to him!]
Of course, even if we forgive him for his lackadaisical attitude towards anything remotely resembling politics, how do we forgive him for his using the public exchequer like his personal piggy bank? Whether it comes to promoting himself at the taxpayers’ cost or requesting the Lieutenant Governor to allow him to use public money to foot his personal legal bills (amounting to 3.86 crores, to be paid to legal juggernauts like Shri Ram Jethmalani), Arvind Kejriwal has — time and again! — proved that he has little regard for anyone except himself.
Of course, it is not his fault…you see, he never really understood politics or democracy, for that matter. Be it his spectacular fiasco in the Delhi High Court against the Lieutenant Governor, Najeeb Jung, wherein the Delhi High Court ruled against him while informing him that since Delhi was not a state, the LG was its administrative head and his sign-off was required on all government decisions. A clear indication of how little he knows about the political nuts and bolts of a democracy. In such a scenario, mockery may be his sole strategy!
