The arc of Arvind Kejriwal’s public life: Anti-corruption crusader to battling graft accusations

The arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday in the Delhi excise policy case adds another episode in his journey from a popular anti-corruption crusader to someone battling corruption charges.

During his journey as a politician, the IRS officer-turned-politician acquired centralised control over the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and became its face, gained popularity as CM for his government’s power and water subsidies, turnaround of government schools and upgrading health infrastructure in the capital.

While his massive electoral successes in the Delhi Assembly polls did not convert into Lok Sabha poll wins, his party sprung a surprise in 2022 by sweeping the state polls in Punjab, winning 92 of the 117 seats.

Kejriwal shot to the limelight almost a decade ago as an anti-corruption crusader as a part of the team of Anna Hazare who sat on two hunger strikes in Delhi – in April and August 2011, demanding a Jan Lokpal (ombudsman) to rein in “political corruption”.

Hazare’s India Against Corruption (IAC) movement, of which Kejriwal was a part, is said to have played a key role in denting the electoral prospects of the Congress-led UPA government in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. It is believed that the BJP, with its large organisational base, took advantage of the “anti-Congress wave” created by the movement and stormed to power winning 282 seats.

Kejriwal, who floated the AAP in October 2012, promised the people of Delhi a “clean government” that would work towards their welfare and tasted electoral success in the 2013 Delhi Assembly polls, where his party won 28 of the 70 seats on offer. Kejriwal defeated Congress veteran and three-time CM Sheila Dikshit by more than 25,000 votes from the New Delhi seat.

With the BJP