Jubilee Post News & Views
Vivek Avasthi
Tuesday is known as a day of Lord Hanuman, at least in North India. And Delhi Chief Minister and National Convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal today, the last Tuesday before Delhi goes to voting on February 8, took to reciting Hanuman Chalisa to seek the blessings of Lord Hanuman.
On the other side, BJP leaders including its Delhi President Manoj Tiwari and Kapil Mishra also were seen on the feet of Lord Hanuman, reciting Hanuman Chalisa, a few days before polling for the throne of Mini-India.
Stung by repeated barbs from the star campaigners of the BJP on being labelled as an anti-national, Shaheen Bagh, Sharjeel Iman, Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid supporter and moreover a friend of terrorists and follower of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Arvind Kejriwal and his coterie had chosen to hold themselves back rather than striking back.
After being labelled anti-Hindu for a long time now, Kejriwal today told a news channel in an interview that he was an ardent follower of Lord Hanuman and that he knew Hanuman Chalisa by heart. On being further questioned, Kejriwal did not hesitate for a second and started chanting Hanuman Chalisa on camera.
This is seen as Kejriwal’s single and all out reply to all the barbs of the BJP to prove before the voter of Delhi, specially the Hindu voter, who the BJP has been trying to divide the vote on communal lines, that he indeed is a Hindu by heart and a devotee of Lord Hanuman cannot be termed anti- Hindu.
He further went to say that those labelling him anti-Hindu have perhaps forgotten that he as Chief Minister of Delhi had facilitated pilgrimages of 40,000 senior citizens of Delhi to Vaishno Devi Shrine, Jagannath Puri, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Shirdi and other places of religious importance. He quipped “Could an-anti Hindu person done all this?”
Kejriwal also took a shot at three BJP Chief Ministers campaigning against him for the BJP in Delhi. He said that the public of Delhi has already spurned, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani over power tariff in his state, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar over hours his state was getting electricity and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over health and medical facilities in his state.
Clearly, Kejriwal and his team are not letting the BJP go away easily with their attack on him and his party on issues of Shaheen Bagh etc. but is rather taking an alternate route to rubbish such allegations. This smart policy of defence is being taken by team AAP so that the elections of Delhi are not polarised on communal lines.
Some time back, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar has even accused Kejriwal of being a supporter of terrorism and alleged that during Punjab Assembly Elections, Kejriwal had stayed for one night at the Moga residence of Gurjinder Singh, the Chief of Khalistan Commando Force, But strangely or as a matter of strategy, Kejriwal is silent on this allegation.
With just four days to go for voting for the 70 seats of Delhi, Kejriwal and his team are still playing on the issues of development, free Bijli-Paani, MCD Schools and Mohalla Clinics. On the other hand, the BJP is going hard on its narrative of nationalism and Shaheen Bagh.
A Times Now- Ipsos Poll released on Monday shows that Aam Aadmi Party is poised to win 54 to 60 seats out of the total 70 seats of Delhi with a vote share of 52 percent. The poll says that the BJP could get 10 to 14 seats with a vote share of 34 percent and the Congress is going to get a maximum of two seats with a vote share of four percent.
(The writer is a senior journalist)
