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The newly-acquitted Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership is, understandably, in a celebratory mood. On Sunday, Arvind Kejriwal declared at a gathering of his faithful at Jantar Mantar that it was this very site from where his revolution started, a beginning that saw the end of Congress rule; and, that it was at this very site now that he was reclaiming the mantle of providing the nation an alternative to Narendra Modi’s regime. If there was any doubt about the intended message, AAP leader Manish Sisodia called upon the party’s workers to give “blood and sweat” to install Kejriwal as the prime minister.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.

The allure of Jantar Mantar is not only misconstrued but is also a dangerous obsession. Kejriwal may want to forget but needs to be reminded that “the Jantar Mantar” that he thinks was the inspiration for a new revolution and new politics was in fact a corporate project of which Anna Hazare was just the mascot; it was the corporate heft that enlisted the national media behind the ‘Anna movement’ and it was the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that put “boots on the ground.”

The only purpose of the Anna Hazare movement was to discredit the Manmohan Singh government; the United Progressive Allaince (UPA) crowd was too gentle and too democratic by temperament to send the thanedar after the impresarios of the Anna Movement.

Kejriwal may also want to be remember that soon after the “Lokpal” battle was won, many senior functionaries of........

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