Arvind Kejriwal is an Indian politician and a former bureaucrat who has been the current and 7th Chief Minister of Delhi since 2015, after his first term in the post from 2013 to 2014. He is also the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Early life and education
Kejriwal was born on August 16, 1968, in an Agrawal family of Baniyas in Siwani in the Bhiwani district of Haryana, India. His father was an electrical engineer who graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra. Kejriwal spent most of his childhood in north Indian towns such as Sonipat, Ghaziabad, and Hisar. He was educated at Campus School in Hisar and Holy Child School at Sonipat. In 1985, he took the IIT-JEE exam and scored an All India Rank (AIR) of 563. He graduated from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, majoring in mechanical engineering.
Political Career
• 1993: Graduates from IIT Kharagpur and joins the Indian Revenue Service (IRS).
• Early 2000s: Becomes involved in social activism, criticizing government and bureaucratic corruption.
• 2006: Founds the Public Cause Research Foundation, promoting government transparency and accountability.
• 2006: Resigns from IRS to focus on activism, joins Anna Hazare’s Right to Information movement.
• 2012: Founds the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), advocating for social justice and transparency in government.
• 2013: AAP wins a landslide victory in Delhi elections, Kejriwal becomes Chief Minister (Delhi’s youngest).
• 2013-2014: Introduces Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill for independent anti-corruption ombudsman, but it’s defeated.
• 2014: Resigns as Chief Minister after controversy over comments about the Indian Army.
• 2020: AAP returns to power in Delhi Legislative Assembly elections.
Assets
According to the affidavit Kejriwal filed for the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections, his total assets amount to ₹2.28 crores. He owns a house in Delhi worth ₹1.3 crores, a car worth ₹10 lakhs, and other assets worth ₹88 lakhs.
Awards
Kejriwal has received several awards for his work in social activism and politics. Some of these awards include:
Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership (2006)
CNN-IBN Indian of the Year (2013)
Time 100 (2014)
Criminal case history
Kejriwal has been accused of several criminal cases, including:
Defamation case filed by Union Minister Arun Jaitley in 2015
Criminal conspiracy case filed by BJP MLA Anil Kumar in 2015
Money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate in 2020
Kejriwal has denied all of the allegations against him.
Tirri Venkat Vinod