"What piques Kejriwal most, he says, is the reluctance of successive governments in India to weed out corruption. This reluctance, he notes with dismay, is shared by parties across the political spectrum.
" “The first anti-graft bill was introduced in India in 1968, the year I was born. Then nothing – really nothing – was done to take up that legislation. It took the central government 40 years to pass that law. We will pass the anti-corruption law on Feb 16 though our government was formed in Delhi only on Dec 28 last year,” he says, beaming.
"Kejriwal may be happy with his political and legislative track record, but there is no dearth of his critics in Delhi who have taken a dim view of the manner in which he has conducted protest politics since the AAP swept to power last month. An ABP-News Nielsen opinion poll shows that 50 per cent of the respondents feel that Kejriwal should not have staged night-long sit-ins against the Delhi police over a row involving the law minister, Somnath Bharti.
"As Kejriwal seems to have a persistent cough, a member of the journalists' delegation asks him if he caught a chill when he slept – his head wrapped in the ubiquitous blue muffler – on the streets of Delhi on a freezing, foggy night some days back. Smiling sheepishly, the chief minister shakes his head.
"Other members of the delegation are keen that he shares with them his thoughts on the India-Pakistan peace process. “I have never visited Pakistan before. I have not studied India's relations with Pakistan,” says the former civil servant with disarming candour. “But I want India to have peaceful relations with all the countries of the world.”
"When pressed to say something more insightful – more newsy – on India-Pakistan relations, he concedes: “To be honest, it is really outside my remit. You should ask the central government.”"
Tearing into Kejriwal, The News daily reported: "India's new shooting star with dreams of another 'India Shining' appeared as of the country's most unimpressive politicians but with a most impressive agenda".
It said the Aam Admi Party leader, who was wearing his "Kejriwal muffler", was armed with a "mission of populist politics".
The News, which was unusually critical of Kejriwal, reported: "That he was totally unprepared to meet with foreign journalists is an understatement and one wondered whether he still remembered where Pakistan was on the map from his days of studies to qualify as a civil servant."
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