The Complete Story of Kejriwal and the IT Department

A week before the Anna protests began; Arvind Kejriwal was issued a notice by the Income Tax department in lieu of 9 Lakh rupees that were due as a payment from his side. After keeping quiet on the issue for about a month, Kejriwal shrewdly spoke about it 3 days back. It was a distorted version of the entire scenario to bring the final blame on the government, and to hide the real truth. Day before yesterday he alleged that the government was putting pressure on the IT department to create these hurdles for him. He also claimed that this was an act of vendetta by the central government. The IT department on the other hand responded by clarifying that the dues were actually existent, and Kejriwal had been informed about them in time. The department went further to clarify that the dues had resulted out of a breach of contract. This contract when signed by Kejriwal had clearly highlighted that he needed work for the department for a minimum of two years, once he returned from his study leave. He did return in 2002, post which he worked for a year till 2003 and then took an Extra Ordinary Leave (EOL) to go back to his RTI work. He never returned to his job, he did file a resignation but never waited for the confirmation of acceptance in context of the resignation letter.

Day before yesterday Arvind Kejriwal had clearly mentioned in his statement to the media that he had committed no violation of the contract and was being cornered by the ITD on purpose. What came as shocking news to the media and the masses of the nation was the revelation of a letter, written by Kejriwal himself on June 26^th, 2007. The letter which has been procured by the Indian express, proves that not only was he aware of the violation of the contract, he had also agreed to it, and had filed a request with this particular letter to demand a waiver on three grounds. First reason being that his efforts were for the public, second reason being the recognition of his work at the international and national level and the third reason  being his lack of capacity to pay the dues, because he claims he has already donated all that he had earned from the few awards and earnings he made. The grounds for a waiver are outright ridiculous, because by this logic all public servants can leave work mid way of their tenure. Join some or the other public service venture, and yet continue to claim benefits of being a government servant.

More than the grounds, what is unacceptable is the lie that has spoken to the entire country. 72 hours earlier he claims that he has not participated in any breach of contract and tries to call the entire thing a politically guided vendetta issue. And today it is discovered that he had complete knowledge of his short comings, despite which he filed for a waiver on naïve grounds. This comes as a shock to all the citizens of the country, because the same man has been part of the Anti Corruption battle that was launched to bring about a greater share of transparency in our country. And today we realize that he himself is not transparent, and at the same time is also capable of shrewd acts for a vested interest. It also demoralizes all of us, to see an appearing to be righteous man with a double face. I wonder if Kiran Bedi was aware of her colleague’s reality, before she called the MPs in the parliament, people with multiple masks. We hope that Kejriwal does clarify the situation by paying his dues, and apologizing to the nation, for pretending to be unaware of the breach of contract in front of the entire nation.