The 'Raghav Chadha' episode is a symptom - and perhaps only a tip of iceberg. Poor Anna Hazare did not know what kind of people he was banking on.
Thanks to the Congress party and UPA-2 legitimizing corruption from the word go -- as soon as the mandate 2009 elections came in -- protagonists like Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi came to the fore.
It all started very profoundly with the Raadia tapes and portfolio allocation of ministers and the roles played by TV anchors.
Ms Bedi has a history of being a self-seeking (love for daughter) DGP in Mizoram. In Delhi; the management of perceptions start with IIC and India Habitat Centre (these days the seminar culture has reduced though) and end up with a brief gathering in Press Club of India. So Kira Bedi was always a top and tough cop in Delhi. The same theory goes with IIT story and Jindal operations in Kharagpur.
Being Jugadu mattered in the NCR. The Moditva phenomenon has got away some of it -- if not the most and hence Left Liberal and press club going intellectuals are also fed up.
The end of Jugadu system to a large extent is responsible for people's anguish against the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo. It has hardly anything to do with Secularism or even Sickularism. Now comes 'Raghav Chadha' episode.
Arvind Kejriwal only wants to run "a collective or organised gang...". says Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva.
This RSS-backed Lotus party leader understands well the complexities of Delhi and the play (or games) of city's 'power politics'. He has long been a close friend of the likes of Vijay Malhotra and Vijay Goel.
“Deciding who to appoint as a leader or sub-leader is an internal decision of any party. AAP has done it too, but the way it has been written to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat that Raghav Chadha should not be allowed to speak is highly objectionable,” Sachdeva said.
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| Sachdeva with a group of Delhi journalists at Somnath temple - 2022 |
There are merits in Sachdeva's analysis. the darkest shadow brooding over the socio-political atmosphere of Delhi is 'indebtedness'. There are also other elements like -- 'faida kya'.
Hence, in 2011-12; everyone and anyone joining the Lokpal movement (of fight against corruption) wanted something or the other.
Kejriwal did that with pride. As a chief minister; he slept near Rail Bhavan trying to play anarchist.
The 'sickularism' smitten office bearers of the Press Club once gave permission for a AAP meeting in the club premises. That was dubbed as anti-Modi activism.
In Noida sector 16 in one media office - a tall gentleman would run around the large office hall and scream 'Swamy narayan' everytime Kejriwal tweeted.
He would even reprimand young reporters covering the city government but not giving due respect to Kejriwal's Independence Day speech.
Such was the excitement in the old lanky man that he wanted Kejriwal's Independence Day speech to be compared in importance with the Independence Day address delivered from the ramparts of Red Fort by a lesser mortal called Modi.
In subsequent period, the AAP government obliged Delhi wallahs by providing liquor at cheap rates and in abundant numbers. That this would turn into their nemesis was not assumed and presumed at all.
The Raghav Chadha episode reveals many things as of now and much more things may come out in time to come.
Chadha (once youngest Rajya Sabha MP) says in his own words - "I am that river which becomes a flood when the time comes",
Many associates of Hazare are out of AAP.
Prashant Bhushan and Yoginder Singh were 'kicked out', it was claimed. Kiran Bedi joined BJP in 2015 and there was saffron washout in Delhi -- 3-67 score.
See another point, so far outside Delhi -- the AAP has made big in Punjab (which also has Delhi style socio-political philosophy) and also a bit in Modi's own Gujarat. In the Hindutva pocket western state, it is more because people do not see the Congress as a genuine alternative to the BJP.
In states like Nagaland; the AAP's pledge to eradicate corruption sounded more 'fictional' and a romanticised tale. It never made any penetration in any segment. that's another debate.
Nagaland's 'jugadu' style begins in crores !!
"You want to end corruption .. so why here," - many AAP leaders have been told in that state.
When the AAP pushed beyond Delhi and made a decisive breakthrough in Punjab, Raghav Chadha was a key organisation man and he had a role in party's expansion.
But on April 3rd, 2026 -- a key AAP leader says - "jo darr gaya, samjho marr gaya".
Does it mean in an as many words?
Tail piece :
Raghav Chadha's tweet on 'migration' during Covid19-lockdown made news.
He was then AAP’s Rajinder Nagar MLA.
His controversial Twitter missive was later removed from the lawmaker’s social media handle. An advocate, Prashant Patel, reportedly had filed a complaint against the legislator.
The charge against Chadha included creating enmity, hatred and "defaming" Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath under section 500, 505 (2)IPC and section 66 IT Act in Noida in UP.
The UP government had also said it could initiate action against Raghav Chadha for spreading fake news.
"Reverse migration" had badly hit northern India and people in thousands had started moving out in a panic like situation. On March 20-21, 2020; a large number of them landed in Lucknow and adjoining places and left for smaller towns and district headquarters such as Ballia, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh and Deoria.
The BJP leaders and central government officials had hinted that this was an orchestrated exodus.
The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) falls under city government and there was perhaps no business to organise as many as 40 buses if not more for taking 'migrant labour force' and keeping and putting at doorsteps.
Kejriwal and his mischief department were allegedly responsible for the exodus and Chadha was part of AK-team.
Married to actress Parineeti Chopra, the snubbed AAP MP Raghav Chadha has miles to go politically and he could be a player in 2027 assembly elections in Punjab.
Will he put on a saffron scarf ?
ends
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