News Politics National Kejriwal is playing the martyr: Tushar Gandhi

Kejriwal is playing the martyr: Tushar Gandhi

Kolkata: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has "realised he wouldn't be able to deliver" and will eventually resort to "playing the martyr" to cover up his inability to govern, reckons Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of

When asked to compare the two, he said: "Anna Hazare pretends to be more Gandhian than Kejriwal, his pretence is more believable...none of them is truly Gandhian...Neither has the sincere ability to lead."

Even though both claim to bat for strengthening democracy, Gandhi surmises they are in effect "foisting a cult of idolatry".

"AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) is nothing but Kejriwal and India Against Corruption (IAC) is nothing but Anna; so where is the democracy in that?" he said.

And with Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi "selling Gujarat to Indians and foreigners", Gandhi contends the country has achieved the very thing for which Bapu gave his life - the division of people based on unity.

"Now if you talk to people there's always an 'us and them', whether there's the communal 'us and them', in terms of caste there's 'us and them' or gender 'us and them'... everything is 'us and them'...," he says, adding Modi, an "agent of hate", is exploiting that fissure.

In fierce criticism of Modi's development that according to him excludes the Muslims, Gandhi slams it as "silicone development" that can't be sustained and is "plastic.

"There is development in the sense that there are wide smooth roads; is that all?" he argues.