{"id":350706,"date":"2024-10-23T00:30:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T06:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=350706"},"modified":"2024-10-23T00:30:36","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T06:00:36","slug":"arvind-kejriwal-came-with-dreams-of-change-but-has-become-a-maafi-expert-bjp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/arvind-kejriwal-came-with-dreams-of-change-but-has-become-a-maafi-expert-bjp\/","title":{"rendered":"Arvind Kejriwal came with dreams of change but has become a &#8216;Maafi Expert&#8217;: BJP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2024\/10\/Ravi-shankar-Prasad-2-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-350707\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2024\/10\/Ravi-shankar-Prasad-2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2024\/10\/Ravi-shankar-Prasad-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2024\/10\/Ravi-shankar-Prasad-2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2024\/10\/Ravi-shankar-Prasad-2-80x60.jpg 80w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2024\/10\/Ravi-shankar-Prasad-2-265x198.jpg 265w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2024\/10\/Ravi-shankar-Prasad-2-696x522.jpg 696w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2024\/10\/Ravi-shankar-Prasad-2-1068x801.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2024\/10\/Ravi-shankar-Prasad-2-560x420.jpg 560w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2024\/10\/Ravi-shankar-Prasad-2.jpg 1360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>New Delhi:<strong>\u00a0 <\/strong>Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, while commenting on the Supreme Court\u2019s rejection of Arvind Kejriwal\u2019s petition in a defamation case, said that the former Delhi Chief Minister, who once promised to transform the country, has now become an expert on seeking apology (maafi expert).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prasad pointed out that Kejriwal has strayed far from the ideals he championed during the Anna Hazare movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking to media persons at the BJP\u2019s national headquarters here on Tuesday, Prasad referred to the Supreme Court\u2019s recent decision, which rejected Kejriwal&#8217;s plea to stay a defamation case related to comments he made about Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s educational qualifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The defamation case was initiated by Gujarat University, following Kejriwal\u2019s public remarks questioning the PM\u2019s degree, which led to an RTI being filed. The Sessions Court and the Gujarat High Court have already dismissed Kejriwal\u2019s petition, and now, the Supreme Court has upheld those decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prasad claimed that Kejriwal had even hinted during the court proceedings that he might apologise for his remarks, but the Supreme Court noted that such an apology should have been made earlier. Now, with his petition withdrawn, the criminal defamation case against him will proceed in Gujarat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Highlighting Kejriwal&#8217;s pattern of making accusations and later apologising, Prasad listed several instances where the Delhi CM issued apologies, including to late Arun Jaitley, to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, to Punjab leader Vikram Majithia, to Kapil Sibal and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prasad argued that while criticism is a fundamental right in politics, making false and defamatory allegations is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe true face of Arvind Kejriwal, who lectures the world on honesty and anti-corruption, has been revealed, \u201d Prasad remarked, adding, \u201cKejriwal has apologised on 10 separate occasions for various remarks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also drew a parallel between Kejriwal and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, suggesting that both have displayed similar carelessness in their public conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prasad also addressed questions on the BJP&#8217;s stance on population control and the challenges in Wayanad where Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is contesting. He dismissed concerns about Priyanka\u2019s chances of electoral success, saying the BJP and its leaders do not fear competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also touched upon India-China relations, noting that sensitive diplomatic matters should be handled by experienced officials and questioned the understanding of diplomacy among some opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Responding to Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav&#8217;s controversial remarks about the Chief Justice of India, Prasad reaffirmed the importance of respecting the judiciary, which he described as vital to the country\u2019s democracy and constitutional traditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Delhi:\u00a0 Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, while commenting on the Supreme Court\u2019s rejection of Arvind Kejriwal\u2019s petition in a defamation case, said that the former Delhi Chief Minister, who once promised to transform the country, has now become an expert on seeking apology (maafi expert). Prasad pointed out that Kejriwal has strayed far [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":350707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1801],"tags":[15589,16188,18756,18757],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350706"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":350708,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350706\/revisions\/350708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/350707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}