ON THE MORNING of April 5, 2011, in a lane adjoining Jantar Mantar— the protest hotspot of the capital—a small crowd had gathered for the launch of India Against Corruption’s campaign to demand a Jan Lokpal law. (In the coming days, the number would swell exponentially.) Social activist Anna Hazare—the face of the agitation—was seated on a raised platform, having just begun his hunger strike. Standing on the edge of the stage was a man keen to be out of the spotlight.
When media persons approached the small-statured man with a moustache for information, he jumped off the stage and spoke earnestly about the campaign. The man was Arvind Kejriwal, the architect of the agitation. Kejriwal, already a noted transparency activist and Magsaysay award winner, was still not nationally known. That was about to change in a big way.
The IAC campaign was the precursor to the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party, which happened over a year later, and marked the entry of Kejriwal into politics. The anti-corruption crusader and the man who wanted to transform the system was now inside the system.
From a fervent activist who worked out of a one-room office in the congested lanes of Seemapuri to putting together one of independent India’s most impactful agitations and then registering the most shocking of electoral victories in Delhi in 2013, it was a rapid transformation for Kejriwal. His party went on to win Punjab and has been accorded the national party status. It is also one of the most prominent members of the opposition INDIA alliance, and he is one of its best recognisable faces.
この記事は THE WEEK India の April 07, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は THE WEEK India の April 07, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI