Arvind Kejriwal had announced in June last year that the Aam Aadmi Party's chief ministerial candidate in Punjab would be a Sikh.
Seven months after this announcement and almost a month before the polling in Punjab, Arvind Kejriwal has asked the people of Punjab to tell the chief minister's choice. For this, Kejriwal has issued a mobile number.
Kejriwal himself has made a choice seven months ago that the religion of his party's chief ministerial candidate will be Sikh. Now they are seeking the public's choice. In such a situation, the question arises that if the public preferred a Hindu as a candidate instead of a Sikh, will Kejriwal back down from the announcement made by Sikh?
Ashutosh Kumar, professor of political science at Panjab University, says, "It's a very right question. If Kejriwal had to know only the choice of the people, then why should the religion of the candidate be according to the choice of Kejriwal? When he has asked to tell the choice of the public on the mobile number, then he has not put a condition that only a Sikh candidate has to be preferred.
"If the public's choice will be a Hindu candidate, will Kejriwal back down from his announcement? Does Kejriwal already know that people will like only a Sikh?
Professor Ashutosh Kumar says, "This shows that Kejriwal's announcement has no meaning and he will field a candidate of his choice. Everyone knows that Bhagwant Mann is their candidate.
Many questions are also being raised about the method Arvind Kejriwal has adopted to know the preferences of the public. What would be his credibility? If a person calls or texts ten times from different numbers, how will it be stopped?
It is possible that people living in Punjab can also call those who are not voters there. This method of Kejriwal is not being considered scientifically.
Professor Ashutosh Kumar says, "The image of the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab is that of the party of Delhi and that of non-Punjabis. Due to this image, Arvind Kejriwal stayed away from the power of Punjab in 2017. To break this image, he has left the guise of public choice. Kejriwal wants to give the message that he is deciding everything by the choice of Punjabis. The Akalis keep surrounding them for being non-Punjabi. The method they have adopted to know the preferences of the public is not a scientific method.
'Want to break image'
"The same person can call thrice. No one will check it. Gender, age, caste, religion, the region will also not be known. This means which caste, religion, age, gender, and region the people like. This is random sampling. A person from all over India can call on this.
"Someone has lived in Chandigarh and is not a voter but can call. Kejriwal is just trying to break the image that non-Punjabi is not deciding. Delhi is not imposing Durbar. In 2017 the impression was that the Aam Aadmi Party is running from Delhi and non-Punjabis are running it. Kejriwal wants to break this image.
Similarly, BJP also used to make party members based on missed calls and says that so many crore people have become members of BJP. The BJP calls itself the world's largest party based on the number of members made from this missed call.
There doesn't seem to be much continuity in Arvind Kejriwal's politics. There is also an assembly election in Uttarakhand and there Kejriwal has made Colonel Ajay Kothiyal the face of the Chief Minister. Many analysts say that it was not a difficult task for Kejriwal to declare the CM candidate in Uttarakhand, so did not ask anyone. Regional identity is not an issue in Uttarakhand.
Question on how to know the choice
Releasing the mobile number to indicate his choice, Kejriwal on Thursday said that this is going to happen for the first time in history but Kejriwal has done such things many times in Delhi.
A founding member of the Aam Aadmi Party, on the condition of anonymity, said, "In the year 2013, the Aam Aadmi Party still went to the public on the question of allying with the Congress. But even then we cannot say that the people had asked Congress to ally with the Chief Minister.
"The public's consent cannot be called taking hands off of a few people. But they are asking people's choice on mobile, who will believe it. Now the Aam Aadmi Party does not even feel like talking about it.
Atul Sangar, the editor of BBC Punjabi Seva, says, "This decision of Kejriwal will spark a new discussion. There will be a question about its transparency. But in Punjab, it will be seen as a new beginning. There is nothing more serious about it. If Aam Aadmi Party makes Bhagwant Mann its candidate, then no one will be able to do anything. This has certainly become a topic of discussion, but there is nothing more in it beyond this. He has tried to hit the opposition parties that the family does not take decisions in his party.
Arvind Kejriwal's oath
Before the 2013 assembly elections in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal used to swear that he would neither form an alliance with the Congress nor the BJP in the event of no one getting a majority. He swore by his children.
Kejriwal had said, "I swear by my children. I will neither go with BJP nor with Congress because the people of Delhi will vote for Aam Aadmi Party against these two. BJP and Congress can ally with each other to form the government because both are the same behind the scenes. I am not power-hungry. We will not form a coalition government because we cannot end corruption by staying with BJP and Congress. We would prefer to sit in the opposition than form a coalition government.
Nobody got much in the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections. Aam Aadmi Party won 28 seats, BJP 31, and Congress 8 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party allied with the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal became the Chief Minister. On the question of forming the government with the support of Congress, then Arvind Kejriwal had said that he would ask the people of Delhi.
The Aam Aadmi Party had then said that 280 meetings were scheduled with the people of Delhi and 128 meetings were held in the first two days. The Aam Aadmi Party said that in 110 out of these 128 meetings, people have asked Congress to form the government. The Aam Aadmi Party used a very opaque method to ally with Congress and formed the government with 28 seats.
Arvind Kejriwal used to talk about the selection of candidates in Delhi assembly constituencies too, but no one knew how many people had given their choice. Despite this, Kejriwal used to declare that the candidate was selected by the choice of the public. Telling every decision of the public is not a new thing in Indian politics, but Arvind Kejriwal used to wear the cloak of transparency.
Now voting for the assembly is going on in Punjab next month and Arvind Kejriwal's party is being considered as a strong contender. Here too Congress is in front of Kejriwal. On Thursday, Kejriwal has once again played the old bet.
Earlier, the news came that Kejriwal would announce the chief minister's face of his party in Punjab on Thursday. But Kejriwal came in front of the media and announced that the face of the Chief Minister in Punjab will be decided by the public, not the party. Kejriwal has given a mobile number and asked people to give their preference by SMS, WhatsApp or phone call.
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