Revision as of 15:29, 10 February 2015

Arvind Kejriwal as a schoolboy

Sources

The rise, fall and the rise of Kejriwal! The Times of India <>Yogesh Kumar,TNN | Dec 31, 2013 The Times of India Star debater as a student, now CM

Early life, family

Born in Hisar, Haryana, on 16 August 1968 to Gobind Ram Kejriwal and Gita Devi. Kejriwal was born in a middle-class family in Siwani, Bhiwani district, Haryana on 16 August 1968, the first of the three children of Gobind Ram Kejriwal and Gita Devi. His father was an electrical engineer who graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, and whose work led to many changes in the family's residence. Kejriwal is married to Sunita, who is also an IRS officer and his batch mate from National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie. The couple have two children, a daughter and a son. He has a younger sister and brother.

Kejriwal spent most of his childhood in north Indian towns such as Sonepat, Ghaziabad and Hisar.

Education: a star debater

He was educated at Campus School in Hisar and at a Christian missionary school at Sonipat. Kejriwal graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, majoring in mechanical engineering.

Moved by a young boy's oratorial skills, Asha Srivastava had adjudged him best speaker at a debate competition in school. He subsequently became her student. The next time she came face to face with him was last week, the same skills amplified manifold, as he spoke at Ramlila Maidan, drawing people in droves to a political pulpit he had just reincarnated.

Sitting in front of the television in her Gurgaon home, the septuagenarian watched Arvind Kejriwal, the boy she had taught history to in classes IX and X, change the course of Indian political history at his swearing-in ceremony as chief minister of Delhi, capping a phenomenal debut for his Aam Aadmi Party.

Srivastava taught Kejriwal during his academic years at Hisar in the early 80s, at the Campus School in CCS Haryana Agricultural University. "As a teenager, his sincerity was touching," she said, speaking of her former student the same way the common man now speaks of the new Delhi CM. "I always knew Arvind had a brilliant mind and he would do well in life," added Srivastava, who retired in 2001.

Like his political journey in Delhi, Kejriwal was an outsider in the Hisar school as well because it mostly admitted children of university employees. But with his meritorious academic record, Kejriwal got admission there. "He was part of the school's debating team, participated in various events, and won many competitions," said Srivastava, who had met Kejriwal before he came to Campus School.

"I first saw him as a boy participating in an inter-school debate, where I was the judge of the event. I adjudged him best speaker. Now, when I see him speaking on TV, I recall the same firmness and sincerity I witnessed decades ago," Srivastava said.

In class, she recalled, he used to ask questions relating to politics, history and the passion he had for debating was worth noticing. "I always asked him to read books outside the usual course and syllabus which he followed as a student," said Srivastava.

Unfortunately after class tenth, she has not met Kejriwal but always came to know about his achievements. Being herself an AAP supporter, she is waiting for the party to fight election in Gurgaon and Haryana this year. "Everyone wants to get rid of corrupt politicians and system I am sure much like Delhi, people of Gurgaon will also support AAP for corruption-free governance," she said.

Career as a professional

After completing his engineering, he joined Tata Steel in 1989 and after working for three years, he resigned in 1992. He later joined Indian Revenue Service in 1995 after qualifying the civil services examination.

Kejriwal joined the IRS in 1995 after qualifying through the Civil Services Examination. In November 2000, he was granted two years' paid leave to pursue higher education on condition that upon resuming his work he would not resign from the Service for at least three years. Being in government service, Kejriwal was active in taking up social cause and worked for implementation of Right to Information Act at grass root level.

In 2006, Kejriwal was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership recognising his involvement in a grassroots movement Parivartan using right-to-information legislation in a campaign against corruption. In December 2006, Kejriwal established the Public Cause Research Foundation in December 2006, together with Manish Sisodia and Abhinandan Sekhri.

Grassroots work

In his eagerness to serve the nation, Arvind resigned from the prestigious IRS service.

He was a part of the Team Anna, along with first woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan and others. He was the civil society representative member of the committee constituted by the Government to draft the jan lokpal bill, following the campaign for introduction of such legislation. Arvind Kejriwal extended his full support to Anna Hazare's 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement, which was a series of demonstrations and protests across India intended to establish strong legislation and enforcement against perceived endemic political corruption. The movement was named among the "Top 10 News Stories of 2011" by Time magazine.

Politics

After feeling "betrayed" by the government when it rejected their draft, Congress and other leaders challenged them to join politics, win elections and come to Parliament if they wanted to "fight system from within", root out corruption and get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed. Known for taking on challenges, the indefatigable activist decided to take a plunge into politics and formed "Aam Aadmi Party" on November 26, 2013, after a formal split of Team Anna.

The party name — Aam Aadmi Party — reflects the phrase Aam Aadmi or "common man", whose interests Kejriwal proposed to represent and got its poll symbol "broom" in July 2013.

For taking on seasoned politicians like three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and other BJP leaders, Kejriwal and his party tried different strategies like going on 15-day long hunger strike on the issue of power tariff in May 2013.

2013 Delhi Assembly elections

To inject some drama, the anti-corruption crusader even filed his papers on November 16, 2013 on the last date of filing of nominations, after Dikshit filed her nomination, just to ensure a straight fight with her. To woo the electors, the party put up posters on auto-rickshaws against Dikshit flagging burning issues of women safety, corruption and high power and water tariffs.

Thousands of AAP volunteers, from Delhi and outside and even abroad, joined him in the hope that Kejriwal would do a miracle. They even took sabbaticals to join his movement. Known as meticulous planner, Kejriwal and his team planned every thing right down to the booth level to help swung votes in their favour. Even selection of party symbol "broom" was part of their plans to strike a chord with the balmiki community, who mostly work as safai karamcharis in the three BJP-led municipal corporations, which used to be perceived as a traditional Congress vote bank.

Among the other firsts, he and his party decided to come up with 70 assembly-based manifestos and a common one for Delhi, which was followed by the BJP but it failed to bring out more than one or two.

An engineer-turned-civil servant Arvind Kejriwal cemented his place in politics with a stunning political debut for his nascent Aam Aadmi Party and emerged in Dec 2013 as a giant killer to sweep Sheila Dikshit out from not only office but also her constituency. Kejriwal started his power run by scrapping the offensive symbols of VIP culture - cars fitted with red beacons and screeching hooters. His ministers also stayed in their regular accommodation, shunning the sprawling bungalows in leafy corners in Lutyens' Delhi.

Often poked fun at by politicians, the former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer was challenged by none other than senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal in — not to criticize the political system as an outsider but join it to cleanse it from within.

Belying all claims of being a "non-actor or no factor" in the Delhi assembly elections by Congress and BJP, Kejriwal was largely instrumental in snapping the 15-year rule of incumbent chief minister.

Feb 2015: changes the political landscape

Kejriwal’s AAP swept the Delhi Assembly polls, winn 67 of Delhi's 70 assembly seats, leaving rivals BJP with 3 seats and the Congress with none.