It was the first day of his career as Indian Revenue Service Officer, Arvind Kejriwal was invited to the office of his Boss. After exchange of pleasantries, Senior Officer was point blank: “In the first few years of your service, you should make sufficient money for yourself so that you can appear to be honest for the rest of your life,” the young man was advised. Kejriwal’s superior said he hated that period of bribery and corruption. “But now,” the man said, “I am honest because I have made sufficient money for myself, and I have made several investments.”
Arvind Kejriwal was taken aback. He had refused to follow his classmates “American Dream”, with CGPA of 8.42 in IIT Kharagpur, he could have have got the best job an Indian middle class student could dream of… He rather chose to serve the country, after working with the TATA-Jamshedpur, he decided to enter public service through civil services. The officers of the revenue service, like those in other branches of the civil service, were supposed to be India’s best and brightest. Millions of people take the preliminary exams, but only few hundreds are chosen to undergo training and enter the senior levels of the various branches of the bureaucracy. Arvind Kejriwal recalled, “I had heard about corruption in government, but I was not sure of the quantum or extent of corruption and the number of people who would be involved in it…. Slowly and gradually, it started dawning on me that almost everyone was corrupt.” He stayed on at the revenue service until early 2006, but all the while, Kejriwal was studying the anatomy of corruption and helping citizens, particularly the poor, deal with the issue in their daily dealings with the government.
Parivartan, the movement he helped found in December 1999, focused on assisting citizens in navigating Income Tax, Electricity, and Food Ration matters in parts of Delhi. It also helped push Delhi Govt to scrap its plan of taking a World Bank Loan to privatize the Capital’s Water Supply. Parivartan aided other groups in educating citizens nationwide about India’s Right to Information Act, which has proved very effective in Delhi in settling people’s grievances with government departments.
After a long struggle through activism & political struggle, he built a political party from scratch and established one of the only 6 Recognised National Political Parties of India.
He had to pay for his rapid assent in Indian Politics, the BJP led Central Government arrested Arvind Kejriwal in March 2024, through its agency Enforcement Directorate based on ‘Vague’ Statement of individuals. One of them, Son of a Billionaire, Sarath Reddy who’s the Director of Aurobindo Pharma. He was arrested in the case & was termed KINGPIN by ED. In his initial statement he said, ‘he had never met Arvind Kejriwal.’ After spending few months in Jail, he changed his statement. ED miraculously didn’t oppose his Bail, in few days Aurobindo Pharma & it’s subsidiaries donated Rs 59.5 Crores to BJP through Electoral Bonds. And he was given protection against any prosecution in the case.
Another accused in the case, Magunta Raghav Reddy had the same path with a bit of modification. At first, he said he doesn’t know who Arvind Kejriwal is, then he was arrested as an accused, then he gets Bail after changing statement. He also gets protection against any prosecution in return of joining BJP alliance partner TDP. Soon his father was declared as the BJP-NDA Candidate in 2024 Loksabha Elections, he’s campaigning with Narendra Modi’s Photo beside him.”Arvind Kejriwal: A Beacon of Integrity and Service to the Nation”