Since bursting onto the nationwide political scene, Aam Aadmi Social gathering (AAP) nationwide convener Arvind Kejriwal has continuously gone on vipassana retreats, meditation breaks throughout which one stays in full isolation and practises self-observation.
On Tuesday, Kejriwal started a 10-day vipassana session in Hoshiarpur, Punjab. This comes simply weeks after his occasion misplaced the Delhi Meeting polls to the BJP, with the previous Chief Minister dropping his seat.
The AAP chief started his vipassana only a day after the top of the primary Meeting session of the brand new legislature in Delhi, which noticed the tabling of a number of Comptroller and Auditor Common (CAG) reviews on the efficiency of the AAP authorities, together with on the excise coverage case wherein Kejriwal is out on bail.
Kejriwal’s Punjab go to additionally assumes significance amid the Congress’s declare that a number of AAP MLAs have been able to defect and Kejriwal would now play a much bigger position in Punjab politics. The AAP has dismissed all such rumours, together with that Bhagwant Mann will likely be changed because the CM of Punjab, the place the occasion stays in energy.
2013: First Meeting polls
Kejriwal’s first public brush with vipassana got here days after the newly shaped AAP contested its first Meeting election on December 4, 2013. He returned earlier than relying on December 8. The AAP received 28 of the 70 Meeting seats in that election and Kejriwal turned the CM for the primary time, with assist from the Congress that was lowered to eight seats after three consecutive phrases in energy below Sheila Dikshit.
Nonetheless, Kejriwal’s first time period lasted lower than two months. Unable to cross the anti-corruption Jan Lokpal Invoice, with the Congress refusing to assist it, Kejriwal resigned in February 2014 and Delhi was positioned below Central rule.
2014: The Lok Sabha plunge
Kejriwal’s second vipassana retreat, this time in Haryana, got here days earlier than the 2014 Lok Sabha election outcomes have been introduced. Kejriwal contested that election towards Narendra Modi in Varanasi, with the AAP profitable solely 4 of the 432 seats it contested.
Story continues beneath this advert
2016: The Excessive Courtroom setback
Kejriwal’s subsequent vipassana journey, in Himachal Pradesh, got here in August 2016 following his occasion’s win within the 2015 Meeting polls in Delhi that noticed him grow to be CM for the second time. Whereas he was away, the Delhi Excessive Courtroom dominated that the Capital “continues to be a Union Territory” below the executive management of the Lieutenant Governor and “doesn’t purchase the standing of a State”.
The AAP authorities’s troubles with the Centre had begun by then because it was in a continuing disagreement with the L-G’s workplace for management of administration within the nationwide capital. Kejriwal additionally repeatedly accused the Centre of interfering in Delhi’s affairs by way of the LG.
2017, 2021: Bypoll win, Chandigarh foray
In September 2017, after the occasion’s win in Bawana bypoll in Delhi, necessitated by AAP sitting MLA Ved Parkash’s resignation and subsequent entry into the BJP, Kejriwal went on a 10-day vipassana journey to Maharashtra.
In September 2021, months earlier than the AAP contested in its first Chandigarh Municipal Company election, Kejriwal once more went on a vipassana retreat in Jaipur.
Story continues beneath this advert
2022: MCD win, Gujarat debut
For the AAP, December 2022 was an excellent month. First, it ended the BJP’s maintain over the Municipal Company of Delhi (MCD) by profitable 134 of the 250 seats. It then opened its account within the Gujarat Meeting elections, profitable 5 seats. Kejriwal then ended the 12 months with a vipassana session.
“Many hundred years in the past Lord Buddha taught this information. Have you ever accomplished vipassana? If not, then undoubtedly do it as soon as. There are numerous psychological, bodily and religious advantages,” Kejriwal posted on X earlier than the journey.
After returning, he stated, “After seven days of vipassana meditation, I’ve come out at the moment. Meditation has all the time given me religious power and psychological peace. This time additionally I’m returning with extra vitality and with a resolve to serve the nation.” The BJP accused Kejriwal of taking a “leisure break” whereas Delhi residents have been “struggling in harsh winters”.
2023: Forward of ED summons
In late December 2023, because the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned him for questioning within the Delhi excise coverage case, Kejriwal left for a 10-day vipassana retreat in Punjab. The CM had additionally skipped the earlier two ED summons.
Story continues beneath this advert
The BJP focused Kejriwal over the journey, questioning its timing and in addition that he went to Punjab.
Different politicians and vipassana
Kejriwal isn’t the one politician to go on common vipassana periods. Rahul Gandhi, Chief of the Opposition within the Lok Sabha, can be recognized to practise vipassana as is his sister and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi.
In 2015, Rahul took a 57-day sabbatical shrouded in secrecy, besides {that a} vipassana centre was concerned. Two years earlier, in April 2013, Rahul held a three-day Youth Congress session at a vipassana ashram in Mohankheda in Madhya Pradesh in addition to a gathering later that 12 months in Pune.
In October 2021, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had introduced 15-day depart for state authorities officers and workers in the event that they wished to attend a vipassana retreat on the Buddha Smriti Park in Patna. In Could 2022, Nitish himself visited a vipassana centre to meditate.
