AAP leader came to know of Narendra Modi's "real face" after the two met in 2010: Kejriwal aide

By A Representative
Following his Gujarat trip, and what would some term as his unprecedented attack on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi during his four-day visit to the state, has Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal's “liking” for the BJP prime ministerial candidate come to a final end? As earlier reported (click HERE to read), Kejriwal was quite “impressed” by Modi ahead of the launch of India Against Corruption (IAC) in 2011, so much so that he, after great difficulty, managed an appointment with the Gujarat CM. It is quite another things that tables have turned now; he went to Modi residence straight dare the CM and ask difficult questions, without the need for an appointment, only to be stopped by cops 5 km away.
If a top Kejriwal aide is to be believed, the AAP leader “realised” that he cannot go along with Modi after he met the Gujarat CM in 2010. Revealing what exactly happened during the meeting, which lasted for two-and-a-half years, the aide, Dinesh Waghela, who formed part of the Kejriwal team which came to Gujarat, told Counterview that the two sides discussed the Jan Lokpal Bill, for which the IAC was planning to campaign.
“Kejriwal met Modi to find out what the Gujarat CM had to say about the Bill. Modi gave Kejriwal his version of the Bill, which differed from the one that the IAC was to propose. Both differed sharply and parted”, Waghela said, adding, “With this ended Kejriwal's view that Modi could in any way be helpful in the fight against corruption. Things became clearer when Gujarat government came up with its Lokayukta amendment bill a little later. Gujarat's Lokayukta bill sought to undermine whatever good things were there in the existing Lokyaukta Act were there.”
In fact, according to Waghela, Gujarat's Lokayukta bill is “even weaker than the one that has been jointly passed in national Parliament”. Reflecting Kejriwal's view on it, he said, “Here, the chief appointee of the Lokayukta is the chief minister, which is not the case with the Lokpal Act passed in Parliament. The right of the chief justice of Gujarat high court to suggest names for Lokayukta have been cornered, under the Bill, by the chief minister.” The Bill has been returned twice by the Gujarat governor for review, because the governor believes it is “weaker” than the existing Act.
Answering a series of questions, Waghela suggested, in Kejriwal's view, communalism was a bigger danger than corruption in India. “We do not believe in seeking support in the name of religion, caste or creed”, he said, though adding, “Any attempt to curb religious freedom, which is a fundamental right of an individual, should be opposed.” He was referring to Gujarat's anti-conversion law, which makes it mandatory for any individual seeking to change a religion to take the permission of the state. “Why should state come in the way of anyone following a particular religion? This is very dangerous”, he wondered.
Asked how did he expect support in Gujarat where AAP had no base, he banked on what he called the “surprise element” in Arvind Kejriwal which, he was sure, would attract the voters. He disagreed with the view that there was no movement in Gujarat in favour of AAP, one reason why it was not possible for the party to gain any support. “I have moved around in Gujarat. I find much more support in this state than what I found in Delhi during the assembly polls last year. People in Delhi used to laugh at us when we said we would fight polls and win. But they later voted for us. Gujarat is far better”, he opined.
The “surprise element” he was referring to related to Kejriwal's sudden decision to visit Gujarat, where he was able to create considerable flutter in North Gujarat, Kutch and Ahmedabad. His decision to “meet” Modi to ask him 16 simple questions took everyone aback. His popular support at the rally in Bapunagar, known to be BJP base, suggested that AAP seemed to be gaining more strength than what many had presumed. Observers, however, wondered if Gujarat's fledgling and divided AAP would be able to capitalise on the support that Kejriwal has been be muster for the party.

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

From protest to proof: Why civil society must rethink environmental resistance

By Shankar Sharma* As concerned environmentalists and informed citizens, many of us share deep unease about the way environmental governance in our country is being managed—or mismanaged. Our complaints range across sectors and regions, and most of them are legitimate. Yet a hard question confronts us: are complaints, by themselves, effective? Experience suggests they are not.

Kolkata event marks 100 years since first Communist conference in India

By Harsh Thakor* A public assembly was held in Kolkata on December 24, 2025, to mark the centenary of the First Communist Conference in India , originally convened in Kanpur from December 26 to 28, 1925. The programme was organised by CPI (ML) New Democracy at Subodh Mallik Square on Lenin Sarani. According to the organisers, around 2,000 people attended the assembly.

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Search This Blog