The recent removal of Kumar Vishwas from the role of party in-charge, Rajasthan is being perceived anti-AAP and the move has triggered out a sympathy towards him, especially among BJP followers. Here, Rohit Kumar, once upon a time being an ardent follower of Kumar Vishwas, writes why he deserves ‘no sympathy’?

Not even a quarter of decade has passed when I had developed a tremendous admiration for Dr. Kumar Vishwas. His poems used to mesmerize me and equally strong were his captivating public speeches. I used to have a separate folder on my laptop then, where I had collected multiple videos of his poems and the public speeches from the internet. Sometimes, I used not to sleep the entire night, spending the full night watching his multiple videos on the internet. Whenever I used to go home from my Law College during vacation, I excitedly used to show all those videos to my father and uncle, who in a catch-22 tone, used to remark, ‘Pure Aam Admi Party me ahi ek thik addmi lagta hai – In the entire Aam Admi Party, only he appears to be a genuine person’. The members of my family have been dedicated BJP supporters, except myself, though sometimes I too lend issue-based support to this Party, and therefore everybody in my family has a soft corner in their hearts for Dr. Vishwas, as he apparently leans towards ‘Right’ or at-least because he appears to be nationalistic in his tone.

The ‘AAP’ Party had been formally launched on 26th of November 2012. I couldn’t resist myself but to be a part of the then an alternative political revolution, seeing immense hope in the Party for India’s future, and therefore decided to formally join the Party dated 25th of January 2013, i.e., within two months of its formal launching. I had enthusiastically donated Rs.100/- for the Party’s cause dated December 15th, 2013 at 4:51 hrs. vide transaction No. NE142154. I couldn’t volunteer for the Party on the grounds, but I had done everything to advocate and propagate Party’s ideals and its commitment on Social Media and on all platforms possible.

I had undertaken a resolve to visit the sanctum sanctorum of ‘Maa Vaishno Devi’ shrine if ‘AAP’ voted to power and when that actually happened where ‘AAP’ secured 67 out of 70 seats in Delhi elections, I undertook that pilgrimage immediately. I had written in detail about this in my open letter to Arvind Kejriwal that had immediately gone viral after Justice Markandey Katju had shared it on his Social Media pages. You can read that open letter here.

Dr. Kumar Vishwas had become a central figure in the Party because of his captivating oratory skills. Almost everybody in the Party loved him for this reason, but I had been loving him for long before, primarily for his enthralling poems and his poetic style. I also had, and in fact, still have, huge admiration for him for the fact that he gave Hindi a much-needed recognition in today’s world, and took it among the elite classes English speaking youth who earlier used to hesitate even to confabulate in their mother-tongue. This is something which he must be appreciated for.

But, over a period, my admiration and infatuation for him started declining rapidly. His aura begun fading in my eyes due to some reasons. He started exhibiting his political opportunism more often. Before Delhi elections, he used to say that Delhi Janlokpal Bill shall immediately be passed after his party voted to power in full majority in Delhi, but the fact of the matter remains that the same was passed around ten months after ‘AAP’ formed a majority government in Delhi and that too a diluted one. It was diluted to such an extent that the celebrated lawyer and the founding member of the party Mr. Prashant Bhushan termed it a ‘Mahajokepal.’ He even challenged Arvind Kejriwal for an open debate on this issue for which he could never muster up the courage. And, amidst all these issues going on, Dr. Vishwas continued defending Kejriwal and his party shamelessly. Yes, shamelessly because, once he had said that if his government does not pass the same Anna’s Janlokpal Bill immediately after the government formation, he would be the first person to protest against it. But, what he did later? Leave alone his promise of protesting against Kejriwal and his party; he went on to brazenly and shamelessly defending it by claiming that, ‘Not even a comma is changed in the law.’ If indeed, not even a comma was changed, then why his party took around ten months to enact this law after coming to power in Delhi with a full majority? If not even a comma was changed really, then why he did not persuade Arvind Kejriwal to accept the challenge of an open debate on this issue with Prashant Bhushan, or he himself accepted this challenge? If a legal scholar like Shanti Bhushan and a celebrated lawyer like Prashant Bhushan kept saying that the enacted Janlokpal law by the Delhi Government was a completely modified version of Anna’s Janlokpal and was wholly diluted, then by what authority and intention Dr. Vishvas kept defending it? To be considered for the Rajyasabha which he openly aspired for? Therefore, in my eyes, he is an unpardonable accomplice in the biggest fraud played with the people of this Nation by ‘Kejriwal & Co.’

By Rohit: A former fan of Kumar Vishvas writes how he lost respect for the AAP leader

The sordid episode of the ouster of AAP rebel leaders like Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav, Prof. Anand Kumar and others, happened right under the nose of Dr. Kumar Vishvas and under his full defense. He continued supporting every arbitrary decision of Kejriwal just to fulfill his political aspirations. He chose to remain, mum when it was his great moral duty to speak like when Admiral Ramdas was being ousted from the party. So much so that when Kejriwal literally abused rebel AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav and others, he had been defending the abuse in all television channels. And, do you know what his line and nature of defense were? He said to Rahul Kanwal of India Today that if my father telephones me and I don’t pick the call because of being occupied, then when we speak later he abuses me, so, does it mean that my father is an uncivilized person? This sort of magic of logic he had been advancing those days in his shameless defense of Kejriwal.

Dr. Kumar Vishvas was a huge proponent of bringing political parties under the ambit of RTI Act. More often he used to say that once our party comes in power we shall voluntarily choose to come under the ambit of RTI Act. But the fact is after his party came to power he never tried to bring it under the purview of RTI Act. Therefore, in my eyes, he is as blatant a betrayer as Arvind Kejriwal. Both have betrayed the people identically and equally. They are the murderers of a hope that is now impossible to revive in near future.

Today, he has been completely sidelined in the party. He has not been offered the Rajyasabha seat which he openly aspired to. He has recently been removed from the post of ‘AAP’s in- charge for Rajasthan Assembly elections’. But, he says, he is being targeted because he believes in speaking the truth and because of being vocal in the Party. This, in my opinion, is a comical argument depicting a defeated spirit, as when he had the opportunities to speak against Kejriwal on his different whimsical decisions, he either chose to keep mum or shamelessly defended him because he had the hope of being politically relevant within the Party and now when he met the same fate as others dissidents, he is wriggling to become a martyred on account of the same reason. This is a death of all ironies. Therefore, in my opinion, he doesn’t deserve any sort of sympathy at all, as one’s ‘Karma’ hits back, and it has to Dr. Vishvas. He must face it.


The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of thearticle.in. You may have dissent with the author's opinion which can be raised by writing to us and the author.

Further, read more: 

A Fly and Fall of concept of ‘Public Interest Litigation’

Pen and paper are mightier than a laptop and tablet, PC?


Rohit Kumar

Rohit Kumar is a law graduate, an RTI activist and a former SBI Youth for India Fellow (2017-18) Batch.

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