Why Arvind Kejriwal's Facebook Popularity has faded in 10 days

Arvind Kejriwal, who till recently was seen as a Nayak of the nation from corruption, an eternal menace, has been transformed into a Khalnayak of sort in the last three weeks, or more precisely, in the last one week.

If fan following on the Facebook is considered a parameter to judge a person's popularity, Kejriwal's fortunes have taken a nosedive in the last 10 days. On January 13, the number of Kejriwal's fans registered were almost 68,000 (The data was collected and visualised using a third party Social Media Analytics Tool). On January 20, the number of fans registered on his Facebook page came down to blow 30,000. For January 21, the projection was just over 7,600 (before Kejriwal called off the strike in Delhi). What caused this sudden fall in the popularity of the man who was till recently seen as a liberator of sort? Post-ruckus, things won't be same again for Kejriwal and Delhi Kejriwal, in the last one week, has seen his credibility been dusted and done. He might announce with pride that the decision to send the three police personnel on leave is a victory of the people and draw some consolation, but there is little doubt that Kejriwal will, from the 26th day of his coming to power, will look a monster to every Indian, whether an influential babu in his bungalow or a nervous woman on the streets. Kejriwal has imported a politics which both the Indian State and the Society will be apprehensive about from this moment.

Arrogance and insensitivity Kejriwal will be hated because of his arrogance and insensitivity towards the common people who he and his team hold in 'high regards'. Kejriwal didn't ever speak about women's security as the prime concern of his government which should have been the case and always stressed the two issues of water and electricity. But as soon as his minister Somnath Bharti was found caught on the wrong foot, he began to shed crocodile tears for women's security (his own supporters manhadled a woman journalist on Tuesday) and declared an unexpected war on the Delhi Police. Talks tall but evades responsibility, this is what AAP's callousness has proved This was done to divert the attention from Bharti's callous public behaviour and put the ball in the court of the Centre, citing its control over the Delhi Police, to give the AAP government a protective shield against the definite failure to improve Delhi's crime records. It was a pre-emptive strike by the AAP only to evade failure.

 No public leader can hold faith for such defeatist mentality and Kejriwal is no exception. His declining popularity on Facebook confirms that. Didn't Kejriwal know about who controls Delhi Police before contesting polls? On the AAP's sudden revolt demanding the control over the Delhi Police, didn't Kejriwal know about this before his party contested the polls? As an opposition leader, he like every other attacked the previous Delhi government for failing to check crime against women. Now, he says that the government is helpless because it doesn't have the control over the police. This is a shameless show of dual character. Power-monger Kejriwal loses his popularity on Facebook and rightly so. Putting nation's honour and security in a spot can't be forgiven But the biggest crime of Kejriwal is that he has even put the nation's image and security under question. The alleged mishandling of the African women and the consequent protest by African diplomats have tainted India's image before the world. It could have grave foreign policy implications particularly at a time when India is competing with the formidable Chinese to make economic gains in Africa. And then, eyeing an even bigger media space by threatening to disrupt Republic Day parade is an act which not many Indian will forgive. It amounts to humiliating the nation and Kejriwal is certainly not bigger than it. The diminishing stature of Kejriwal in Facebook makes it evident.