VOICE OF EX-SERVICEMEN PUNJAB

Arrest me in 6 months, or we will arrest you: Kejriwal to Majithia

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 29

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday dared Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia to arrest him in six months or he would arrest him (Majithia).

Kejriwal, who along with party leader Sanjay Singh, later appeared in a local court here in a defamation case filed against them by Majithia, said Majithia had flourished his drug trade that had affected most houses in Punjab. “It’s not only me, (Ashish) Khetan or Sanjay Singh, lakhs of people of Punjab have repeatedly said that Majithia is a drug trafficker,” he said.

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AAP volunteers were seen carrying the placards saying, “Main ek var nahin hazaar var kahanga, Bikram Majithia chitte da taskar hai (I will repeatedly say that Majithia smuggles drugs).”

Kejriwal said if the Badal government could book the Delhi CM in a defamation case, he could understand how the common man was being harassed in Punjab.

Majithia and his supporters also reached the court complex. Around 15,000 to 20,000 volunteers of the AAP had gathered near Circuit House to support Kejriwal. Heavy police force had been deployed en route to district courts from Circuit House while Police Commissioner Amar Singh Chahal himself supervised the security arrangements.

The police stopped AAP volunteers around 1 km away from the court while a large number of SAD workers had already reached the court complex.

Both Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh furnished bail bonds of Rs 40,000 each. The case will now come up for hearing on October 15.

CM’s posters on buses ripped off

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, July 28

Posters listing government’s achievements, schemes and the picture of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal pasted on state-owned buses were found torn in the district.

The Punjab Roadways authorities have blamed the staff and warned them of stern action if someone was found guilty. A visit to the local bus stand today revealed that the buses with torn posters were parked in the workshop.

Charanjit Singh Brar, General Manager, Punjab Roadways, Muktsar, said: “The government’s publicity posters were pasted on nearly 20-22 buses a week ago. But some drivers and conductors tried to remove these from two-three buses. They have admitted to it and agreed to replace these by paying from their own pocket.” Rejecting the charge, some drivers and conductors said some passengers might have tried to remove the posters. “But we have contributed money and placed order to print 13 such posters,” a staff member said.

Jail visit: AAP leader, Pinki’s bail confirmed

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 28

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today confirmed the interim bail granted to journalist-turned-politician Kanwar Sandhu.

Interim bail was also granted to former police Cat Gurmeet Singh alias Pinki.

Sandhu had allegedly managed to enter Patiala Central Jail, in connivance with jail authorities, without making an entry to meet an inmate Balwant Singh Rajoana.

“Even if it is presumed that the petitioner in the capacity as a journalist has visited an inmate pursuant to some irregularities committed by the jail officials, it may be considered as an irregularity. No offence appears to have been committed by the petitioner,” Justice MMS Bedi had observed earlier.

AAP MLA’s bail plea rejected

Sangrur, July 28

The court of the Subdivisional Judicial Magistrate, Malerkotla, today dismissed the bail application of AAP MLA Naresh Yadav in the Quran desecration case.

Yadav was yesterday remanded in judicial custody till August 1. He is now lodged in the District Jail here.

His counsel Harpal Singh Cheema said as the District and Sessions Judge was on leave today, an Additional Sessions Judge issued a notice to the state for July 30. — TN

End the Arvind Kejriwal show: An open letter to AAP supporters

Arvind Kejriwal - clad in muffler, with his bizarre antics and natakbaaz cough has taken over the reins and purged those with backbone or morality

Dear AAP supporters,

I once respected and admired your movement, born as it was in those heady days of Jantar Mantar. It was a true citizens’ movement, led by the newly empowered, educated, middle class that was fed up of a system reeking of entitlement and corruption. I cheered on Anna Hazare, and I too had goosebumps at the youth, the energy and the intelligence of the movement.

Alas, it was not to last. As with most revolutions, after the pure beginnings, a demagogue arose to steal the stage, and use the movement for his own purposes. Before we knew it, Arvind Kejriwal – clad in muffler, with his bizarre antics and natakbaaz cough had taken over the reins and purged those with backbone or morality – Anna Hazare, Yogendra Yadav, Kiran Bedi. The moral core of the party was dead, and the party was now little more than the Arvind Kejriwal Show.

The AAP today is just an Indian echo of the many populist movements that have broken out across the globe. These are fueled by our sensationalist news media and social media environment where truth, research, and facts are less important than snappy slogans, antics, and ratings. Be it Corbyn in the UK, Syriza in Greece, Le Pen in France, Grillo in Italy or Donald Trump in the USA, the story is the same.

And just like in the rest of the world, such a populist is dangerous.

For these people expertise doesn’t seem to matter. Kejriwal’s economic plans would not pass scrutiny by an eighth standard economics teacher. His vision of huge expenditures, and ruinous taxes on business, would rapidly reduce our economy to that of Greece – hollowed out and bankrupt. But of course, “free wi-fi, free college, tax the rich” is such a wonderful slogan, why bother with pesky logic? Just tell the people what they want to hear.

Like other populists, Kejriwal knows the power of an Enemy. Kejriwal attacks businessmen and politicians. Businessmen, he says, are the root of all evil. No one, in his tax-inspector eyes, can succeed in business without cheating. Success is something to be suspicious of, not something to celebrate.Of course, in reality, in a country of entrepreneurs and family businesses, most business is a force for good – creating jobs, providing goods, services, and development. In fact, corruption exists largely due to people like Kejriwal – a tax inspector with little understanding of economics, and a need to create thousands of rules to control every aspect of the market. These complicated rules lead to a proliferation of lazy and corrupt officials that suck the life out of the country through thousands of small bribes and blackmails. In such an environment, crooked practices thrive.

Most international populists rail against the “politicians”. Rather than actually going about the business of governing and taking tough decisions, it is easier to paint everyone as a thief – Sab Chor Hai – and claim to be above the system. So it is with Kejriwal. Despite being CM of Delhi, Kejriwal does not hold a single portfolio, and seems shockingly uninterested in the nitty-gritty of actual governance (fobbing it off to his Deputy CM). A simple traffic experiment like his odd-even scheme was made into a huge drama with daily headlines. Mumbai’s traffic police quietly handle far more complex problems on a daily basis without making them into national news items.

Just like the Donald Trumps of the world, Kejriwal understands that today’s Reality Television is more important that Actual Reality. Thus the bizarre spectacle of various assaults on Kejriwal, always conveniently within camera range (ever wonder why no other leader gets assaulted as much as Kejriwal? Or why Kejriwal never gets attacked when he is off camera? Just as Trump shot to political fame by funding an investigation into whether Obama was actually born in America, Kejriwal gets attention by attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hence, the disastrous challenge to PM Modi in Varanasi, and the ever increasing volume of abuse and conspiracy theories. For a populist demagogue, facts and results are not relevant. Success is counted in the only currency that matters – Ratings.Unfortunately today, the more outlandish the claim, the crazier the conspiracy theory, and the more unparliamentary the language, the better it is for ratings. However, in order to maintain attention (and distract from lack of achievement) one has to create ever more outlandish spectacles.

This has to end. We now have the spectacle of a sitting Chief Minister accusing the Prime Minister of India of planning to murder him! Do we want to live in a country where the boundaries of civil discourse permit such wild and baseless accusations for the sake of television ratings? Do we want our polity to be “Trumpified”?

Also read | PM Modi, BJP can get me killed, says Kejriwal

I call upon all remaining supporters of the AAP to take back their movement. To return to the positivity and hope of the Anna Hazare days, to kick out the fakes, and the natakbaazes. It time to return to the soul of the movement – a fight against corruption, a fight for the rights guaranteed in our constitution, and at its core, a fight by the educated classes for a right to enjoy the Indian dream. I know all of you want what is best for the country, you must start by ending the Arvind Kejriwal Show.