The Arvind Kejriwal-Robert Vadra faceoff has finally reached the place where it should be — in court instead of in the press.
An activist named Nutan Thakur filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Allahabad High Court on Oct. 9, and it has now been admitted. The government must respond within three weeks. Thakur wants the court to explore allegations by social activist Kejriwal that Vadra, son-in-law of Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi, has been involved in shady land deals.
Perhaps court is the best venue for trying to find out if there is any less-than-aboveboard connection between Vadra, real estate firm DLF and the Haryana government, despite the lonely, but rewarding work of good investigative journalists.
But, there is a question that continues to bother me: why did the budding politician Kejriwal not go to court himself if he and his team had substantial allegations to make against Vadra? If publicity were the reason, he would have started his campaign on a weak note.
Kejriwal is promoting nothing but the concept of “media trial” — a cynical but sometimes effective circus that involves leaders, would-be leaders and various experts debating and levelling charges against each other in press conferences and during prime-time news hours. Whether justice gets done is an open question, but there is no question that it’s good for ratings and that people get their entertainment.
