Interactions with media have been one of the highlights of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The former Indian revenue Service office-turned social worker-turner politician has been known to have very good relations with journalists although he has targeted owners of some media organisations in the past.
But the recent churning, rebellion and controversies that have engulfed his Aam Aadmi Party seems to have spooked the fiery Kejriwal who has decided to keep away from the media. In the recent weeks as AAP lurched from one controversy to another and saw several of its senior leaders openly revolting against Kejriwal's leadership and finally being expelled from the party, Kejriwal never came out to clear the air.
All the queries related to the party are being handled by Kejriwal's close aides even though his distractors within the party and outside have left no stones unturned in targeting the Delhi Chief Minister.
While former AAP leaders like Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav have taken on Kejriwal directly and called the party under him a khap panchayat and one-man show, the Delhi Chief Minister has maintained an astute silence with his supporters doing all the talking.
Now Kejriwal is taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government over the controversial Land Acquisition Bill and will hold a protest rally at Jantar Mantar and then march towards Parliament House with his supporters. He has also asked the Delhi Police, which has already denied him permission for the march, to ensure that media persons don't get close to him or speak to him during the protest.
His decision to keep away from the media is to ensure that he is not asked about and is not forced to answer on the recent upheavals in the AAP. While Kejriwal is perfectly entitled to take a call on whether he wants to speak to the media or not, his stand is at variance with his persona.
He used the media to the hilt when it suited him and now when his authority and methods are under the scanner, he is shying away from facing the media.
During the entire crisis which erupted soon after AAP decimated the opposition by winning 67 out of the 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly elections in February 2015 has seen very little media interaction by Kejriwal.
He had a grudge with the media during the campaign for Delhi elections and had accused some organisations of trying to show his party in poor light but then the same media had made him almost a national level politician during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections even though his fledging party failed to make a mark outside Delhi and Punjab.
As an elected representative of the people and the Delhi Chief Minister, Kejriwal should and must interact and answer queries raised by the media even if they are uncomfortable and question his style of functioning.
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