Dear ArKe,
- When you announced shelters for the homeless, you earned my respect.
- When you approved free water/subsidized electricity with riders and deadlines (31st March, 2014), I hoped it was a deliberate attempt not to overburden a system that's already tottering.
- If you'd suspended Bharti after Khirki, I'd have applauded your sense of fairness.
- If you'd moved a bill to bring the Delhi police under the Delhi govt and sat on a dharna for that, I'd have welcomed your sense of action.
- If you hadn't called off your Dharna to protect your and Bharti's image, but continued until the stated aim - Delhi police under Delhi govt - had been achieved, I'd have grudgingly agreed that your style of anarchy works.
- If you had acted against Dixit and others without asking for evidence from Dr. Harshavardhan, I'd have been happy that you are at least fighting corruption.
- If you had taken the effort to see at least one prosecution of a corrupt official getting off the ground, I'd have had the hope that things are moving in the right direction.
- If you'd been able to take your opponents along as well as your unquestioning fans, I'd have respected your consensus-evolving skills - because our nation needs leaders to talk to each other, not just to us all the time.
- If you had gone through the Constitution you claim to respect and not created the excuse you did for scuttling the JLP, I'd have found nothing wrong with trusting your words.
- If you hadn't written to Tauqeer Raza or pulled up Bhushan or called Batla encounter fake, I'd have been happy that you, at least, are not pseudo-secular.
- If you had not withdrawn money earmarked for infrastructure and used it to pay for subsidies (to Ambani's discoms), I might have even granted that your 49-day reign was indeed hampered.
- If you had moved out - or explained how a family earning Rs.11L per annum can afford a rented house at Rs.2.5L per month - I'd have believed that you could set an example for our politicians who live off public money.
- If you hadn't forgotten that Congress ruled this country for 60+ years while Vajpayee's term (as even his worst detractors now agree) was among the best, I'd have believed that you'd make a good party to invest in at the national level.
- If you hadn't turned to drama at every turn because you can't pay the news channels for coverage, I'd have respected you as a decent human being.
- If you could be as unforgiving to your supporters when they are wrong as you are to those who criticize you, I'd have believed that you were, indeed, conscientious.
- If you had been more mature in your efforts to weed out #paidmedia instead of threatening to arrest them, I'd have been less apprehensive of your dictatorial approach.
- And if you had surrounded yourself with less obnoxious characters than Ashutosh, Khetan or Sisodia, I'd have taken your #paidMedia allegations more seriously.
- And if you hadn't tried to adjust an interview with a two-faced lackey (who pretends to be an impartial journalist to this day), I'd not have scoffed at your media-bashing.
- If you had asked us to trust in your abilities rather than to fear Modi (and I do not see you taking anyone else's name with such frequency or rabid rhetoric), I could have eventually shared your confidence.
- If you had spoken against Sahara... if you'd spoken against Sarada... if you had been able to reconcile your 'findings' about Gujarat and your colleagues' before they joined you... I could have believed that your attack on crony capitalism was not compromised.
- And if you'd said something and stuck to it, I would not be thinking disparagingly of you.
If at least once you could have shown me why I should not fear you running away again on another made-up pretext...
If you could have handled things with at least as much class as we want to see in our politicians...
I'd not have woken up today worrying for a nation that might just give you enough votes for UPAAP.
If only...