India has a long list of politicians who lost their Cabinet berths
after losing an election. But, AAP's Sandeep Kumar would go down in
record books as the first minister to get kicked out of a ministry
because of something that just rhymes with, er, election.
On
Wednesday night, he was sacked by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
just before the media started playing tapes, of Kumar's alleged
escapades in a house that looked like his hunting ground, on loop.
In
a CD sent anonymously to media houses, Kumar, minister of women and
child welfare, allegedly figures with two different women. In one of
them — a nine-minute video — he is seen in an "objectionable" position
with a woman, whom he later advises to meet him "only after 9 pm" and
never in public. The CD also contained still pictures allegedly showing
Kumar with another woman in varying degrees of proximity.
Allegedly,
instead of helping women in need, a job mandated by his ministry, Kumar
was helping himself to women to satiate his needs.
Making a
virtue out of necessity, AAP claimed that it had set high standards of
probity in public life by taking quick action against Kumar. "AAP is a
party of ideals. AAP has a zero tolerance policy towards corruption,
scandals," deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said. "Ministers found
taking bribes were removed immediately as soon as it was found. Action
will be taken swiftly against any member irrespective of status or
position," he told the media.
Sisodia's hypocrisy would have
sounded more comic had he not been competing with the sacked minister, a
self-proclaimed patni-vrata aam aadmi.
In a speech that went
viral last year, Kumar told his audience on International Women's Day (8
March) that he takes his wife's blessings almost every day before
venturing out.
"Main roz subah inke pair choo kar ghar se nikalta
hoon (I touch her feet before leaving the house every morning)," he
said, bringing the packed auditorium at Delhi's secretariat down with a
thunderous response.
He later told the The Indian Express about
his blissful marital life and how he was grateful to his wife for being
with him through thick and thin.
If the video is right, the minister was obviously fooling a lot of people at the same time, both in private and in public.
The
only silver lining, if any, in Kejriwal's conduct is that he has been
quick to act on complaints of impropriety. Unlike the BJP that first
inducted Nihal Chand as a minister in the Union government in spite of
the lawmaker facing allegations of rape and then continued to protect
him despite public outrage and the Congress that has a history of
protecting tainted politicians, Kejriwal has at least taken quick and
decisive action.
But, the Delhi CM's penchant for alacrity in
such matters has been deprived of its novelty and moral underpinnings
because the AAP is now being routinely exposed as a party low on
scruples that were promised by Kejriwal. "If politics is keechad (muck),
we will have to get deep into it to clean it," Kejriwal had said,
explaining the raison d'être of AAP. Ironically, his AAP now looks like
keechad — a mini replica of Indian politics.
For a party that
made such a song and dance of its selection process, owes its birth to
an anti-corruption movement and public clamour for clean politics, it is
indeed a shame that every few months the AAP gets into trouble because
of legislators with gaping moral and ethical lacunae.
In October,
Kejriwal had publicly sacked Asim Ahmed Khan, the then minister of food
and environment for allegedly seeking bribes. Before that, after
defending him publicly, Kejriwal had to sack law minister Jitendra Tomar
for faking a degree.
Delhi has a sanctioned strength of seven
ministers. Three bad apples in less than 18 months is indeed an alarming
sample for Kejriwal's lot. Either his party is guilty of not performing
the advertised due diligence or Kejriwal and his team have a problem
judging people. Either way, these are signs that erode Kejriwal's base.
Like patni-vrata Kumar, the AAP has betrayed people's faith and blessings.
Source:-firstpost
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