What Anna Hazare told Arvind Kejriwal when Delhi liquor policy scam first surfaced

Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister and chief of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Delhi liquor policy case. This comes at a time when Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, two leaders of AAP formerly in the Delhi government, were arrested earlier. The Aam Aadmi Party came into being in 2012 and 11 years later became a national party recently. AAP owes its origins to the India Against Corruption movement in the 2010s, a mobilisation seeking action against corruption during the UPA-II era.

The face of the movement, at the time, was Anna Hazare, a social activist who has decidedly kept his distance from electoral politics. When Kejriwal decided to venture into the testing waters of electoral politics, Anna Hazare had decided to keep his distance. After keeping his distance from Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party for years, Anna Hazare spoken up about his protege in August last year, after the new Delhi liquor policy case had only surface. With Arvind Kejriwal set to face the CBI on Sunday, April 16, here's looking at what Anna Hazare had said at the time:   

In a letter addressed to Kejriwal, Anna Hazare had reminded the Delhi CM of his stance pertaining to liquor shops during his India Against Corruption days. Mentioning that both Kejriwal, as well as Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, appreciated the fact that neither cigarettes nor liquor has been sold in his village Ralegaon Siddhi for the last 35 years, he lamented the U-turn taken by the AAP founder. To buttress his point, he quoted from Swaraj- a book written by Kejriwal in 2012 before joining politics.

Here is what Arvind Kejriwal wrote in 'Swaraj':

"Problem: At present, officials give licenses for opening liquor shops on the recommendation of politicians. They give licenses after taking bribes. There are many difficulties due to liquor shops. People's family life gets destroyed. The irony is that no one asks the people who are directly impacted by this whether liquor shops should be opened. The liquor shops are imposed on them."

Suggestion: The license for opening liquor shops should be given only when the Gram Sabha approves it in the concerned meeting. 90% of the women present there should vote for it. The women present in the meeting should be able to cancel the license for opening liquor shops via a simple majority."

Commenting on this, Anna Hazare wrote, "After joining politics and becoming the CM, it seems that you forgot your principles and ideology. That's why your government formulated a new liquor policy in Delhi. It seems that this will give an impetus to liquor sales as well as consumption of liquor. Liquor shops can be opened in every lane. This can lead to an increase in corruption. This is not in the interest of people". 

Anna Hazare's letter to Arvind Kejriwal:

'Kejriwal forgot about Lokpal' 

Reiterating that forming a political party was not the aim of the India Against Corruption movement, Anna Hazare had contended that it would have been better to have a pressure group of like-minded individuals. In the letter, he accused AAP of damaging this historic movement and alleged that it was now functioning like other political parties. The octogenarian activist also pointed out that Kejriwal had forgotten his agenda of enacting a strong Lokayukta power and instead focused on formulating a new excise policy. 

Anna Hazare wrote: "The historic Lokpal and Lokayukta movement took place for corruption-free India. Lakhs of people came on the streets. At that time, you used to give big speeches on the stage about the need for Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayukta in the states. You talked about ideal politics and an ideal system. But after becoming the Chief Minister of Delhi, you forgot the law of Lokpal and Lokayukta.  Not only this, you did not even try to enact a strong Lokayukta law in the Delhi Assembly. And now your government has made a liquor policy destroying the lives of people and impacting the women." 

In context of the liquor scam, Hazare had highlighted, "I am writing this letter because we first banned alcohol in Ralegaon Siddhi village. Then, many agitations took place so that a good liquor policy is made in Maharashtra. The movement led to the enaction of prohibition law. As per this, if 51 percent women in a village and city vote in favor of prohibition of liquor, then alcohol is banned there". Regretting that the Delhi government hadn't formulated such a law, he claimed that AAP too was now trapped in the cycle of getting power with the help of money and earning money after getting power.