“Even Lalu Yadav had spoken out on such evidences of corruption”. This has been the refrain of Kapil Mishra, ever since he put Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the dock over probity, over Kejriwal’s studied silence. Leveling serious corruption charges against his former boss and AAP supremo, he dared him to come clean.
The ongoing drama played out in the National Capital is a clear indication that all is not well in the AAP camp. It’s time Kejriwal was judged on the basis of some pre-existing standards set by political leadership before Kejriwal presented his ‘alternative politics’ with an avowed aim to cleanse politics.
As for the question what a leader should do in the wake of charges of corruption against him, Kejriwal need not grapple with precedence as one of his predecessors, Madan Lal Khurana, has illustratively demonstrated the way out. Following the footsteps of his party’s senior leader LK Advani, the first chief minister of Delhi resigned from the post at the peak of his political career. The move came in the wake of his name figuring in the infamous Hawal scam of 1996. The evidence was a diary recovered from the main accused in the case. 

LK Advani who too was at the peak of his political career chose to resign from Lok Sabha. Later, both leaders were acquitted from all the charges. Advani could not contest elections for two years as he had declared, “I will not go to Parliament till I am acquitted”.  After the acquittal Advani got his post but BJP did not reinstate Khurana. As Advani is credited for the rise of BJP at national level Khurana’s contribution to the party in Delhi cannot be wished away.
Transparency and probity in public life were at the core of the political philosophy of Kejriwal, who was part of Anna Hazare led Janlokpal Movement of 2011, which was in essense a crusade against corruption. He, along with his fellow travellers, has been targeting almost all politicians over the issue of corruption and criminalisation of politics. His tirade against conventional politics culminated into formation of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and rise of Kejriwal as a political leader.
These two issues are widely addressed in Arvind Kejriwal’s small solo book ‘Swaraj’ which can be called as Bible of AAP ideology for his supporters. Those, who once supported Kejriwal expecting him to raise standard of politics, are today a disgruntled lot. With their trust breached they feel cheated as never before. This is not what they had bargained for.
Most recent example of resigning in the face of graft charges is that of UPA 2 when the then railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal quit after his nephew was arrested for accepting bribe from a railway officer for plum posts. The evidence was not strong enough to establish involvement of Bansal in the bribery case but the relationship with the accused was enough to taint the minister. Similar was the case of then Union law minister Ashwani Kumar.
If we apply the same yardstick for Kejriwal, he should simply resign and wait till he is absolved of the charges. But on the contrary he is not only trying all options to keep himself in the saddle but also applying same excuses to protect his tainted ministers. Kejriwal, who protected his former law minister Jitendra Singh Tomar in fake degree case till he was arrested by the Delhi Police, is shielding his tainted PWD and Health Minister Satyendra Kumar Jain.
Supporters of Kejriwal might argue Sushma Swaraj and Smriti Irani, ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government at the Centre, did not resign in the face of corruption charges.
Even if one concedes the conspiracy angle that AAP is giving, who could deny the fact that the funds were concealed from Income Tax and Election Commission. In 2013-14, AAP received Rs 45 crore but in revised submission it revealed only Rs 30 crore to Election Commission which is around Rs 10 crore more than the party revealed on its website.