Anindito Mukherjee/European Pressphoto AgencyIndia Against Corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal addressing a press conference in New Delhi, in this Oct. 17, 2012 file photo.A roadside sit-in protest of a few hundred electric company workers with labor complaints wouldn't normally be enough to attract India's national television stations and newspapers.
But that's just what happened on Monday, when the anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal lent his voice to the protest, his latest move in a seemingly tireless string of public appearances and press conferences to promote his new political party.
Until recently, Mr. Kejriwal, 44, was best known as the architect of last year's massive anticorruption protests led by Anna Hazare, but since Mr. Hazare said a month ago that he does not support the formation of a new political party, Mr. Kejriwal has taken the spotlight.
So far, neither the name, organization nor manifesto of Mr. Kejriwal's party has been declared, but its purpose seems to be well known and straightforward enough: to fight corruption. The former government bureaucrat has declared that his party will run for Delhi state elections in 2013.
In recent weeks, he has distributed documents that he alleges prove corruption by top politicians and organized sit-ins in front of their homes. His allegations seem to be bipartisan: He has already targeted the son-in-law of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Party law minister Salman Khursheed and the Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P., president Nitin Gadkari.
Mr. Kejriwal, 44, has taken to wearing a white cap known as a Gandhi or Nehru cap, a potent reminder of India's independence activists. On one side of the cap he was wearing on Monday the words “I am the common man†were written, and on the other, “I want Jan Lokpal law,†referring to the anticorruption law that was once Mr. Hazare's main cause.
Recently, Mr. Kejriwal lit on a popular issue, increased electricity prices in Delhi, which affects nearly every family in the region. Electricity prices were raised 26 percent in July, and residents are complaining. Recently, Mr. Kejriwal has been filmed restoring electricity connections for families whose power was shut off.
Monday's protest was another chance to show his solidarity with the common man, in this case the electric company workers. Mr. Kejriwal cited labor laws that he said private electricity distribution companies are violating, like paying less than minimum wage, not paying bonuse s and not helping injured workers.
After narrating the plight of several workers, he asked the crowd, “Who needs to protect you?†and then answered with the crowd, “Sheila Dikshit, the chief minister.†Instead of protecting workers, though, Mrs. Dikshit is “working as an agent of private companies,†he said.
Workers loved the exchange and clapped to show their support. Some of the India's news channels showed it live.
This isn't the first time Mr. Kejriwal has attacked Mrs. Dikshit. On a previous occasion, he referred to her as a “dalal,†or middleman. Her political secretary, Pawan Khera, responded to that allegation with a legal notice for civil and criminal defamation.
“Either he should take his word back or be ready for civil and criminal defamation. This kind of language, to say dalal to a three-time elected chief minister, is unheard of in public discourse till now,†Mr. Khera said to NDTV, an independent news channel, on Mon day.
Mr. Kejriwal mocked the legal notice on Monday and seemed to welcome the counterattack. “It is not we who are defaming you; it is your misdeeds which are defaming you,†he said.
Mr. Kejriwal said Monday that the entire political class has united to find out how to deal with him and his new party. “The Congress is baffled, the B.J.P. is baffled, and the whole political class is baffled,†he said.
The people of India will teach the political class a lesson in the upcoming elections, he predicted.
