I have been accused
by many a friends
of wavering off and on
praising and denigrating
changing my stand
on the real phenomenon of today-
the one and only AK,
Indian Kalashnikov
for all those Indians
who see a Nayak,
a true hero,
a saviour, a wonder kid,
and a transformer in him.
I have been condemned
I have been vilified
I have been accused
I have been laughed at
I have been scoffed
and I have been called names
right since the days
I opposed Janlokpal
to the political transformation
of the man
who has taken the Nation
by unimaginable storm.
I don’t fear being maligned
I don’t fear being accused
being opposed never weakens me
I like being bullied
and hence not the problem.
What really disturbs me
is whether I have been right
or I have been wrong
in evaluating Mr Kejriwal
as an individual
and an agent of agent,
particularly as regards the truthfulness,
and the genuineness.
I don’t say I have the capacity
and the required acumen
to judge an historical figure
but the fact remains
that even ordinary people
can judge extraordinary ones.
Again I don’t claim for once
any iota of greatness in me
and acknowledge with openness
all my limitations, my follies,
my untruth, my insincerity
to many a things in life
but even these deficiencies
not bar a person
from evaluating others.
Now coming to the core issue
about my allegedly wavering
about my opinion on Mr K,
I make it very clear
never for once I doubted
his enormous potential
his limitless thinking
his huge risk-taking capabilities
his wonderful self-confidence
his extraordinary work potential
his incomparable zeal
and his ways of
making his presence felt.
The only thing that I don’t know
even till date
is about the genuineness of Mr K,
the inherent reality
the truth behind the mask
the actual self
and it is on this issue
I, who know him only remotely,
have been getting
very contradictory statements.
While there are his followers
and there are his “disciples”
there are his fans
and there are ones
who pin their hopes
on Mr Arvind Kejriwal
to whom he is
the epitome of virtue
the ultimate man
Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore
Vivekananda, Patel et al
all rolled in one.
There are his opponents
who call him a cheat
who call him a thug
who openly blame him
who openly call him names.
To me both of them
don’t exactly count
because they rely on hearsay
and the outside vibes.
The problem with me
is that
a few people
whom I regard
and take their words seriously
as being sensitive
and being sensible
are not convinced by him
while a few others
again equally sensitive
and equally sensible
rate him very high
while I personally
over the period
have seen him
change his stance
quite too often
in public life
and have seen him
making such promises
I find hugely unrealistic
often blatantly false
right from the days
he said Janlokpal
is the cure of all
which for sure
was an utter lie
again his habit
of dividing people
into black and white
painting others blacks
and rating himself
so high and so pure
as if whiter than snow
and these facets
seems to dwindle my faith
because fundamentals count
while at the same time
I want from my heart
that this man
who has churned the skies
actually proves to be true
to all his words.
Hence these wavering stands
for which I don’t apologize
because to err is human
and human I am.
Written by: Amitabh Thakur
