Kejriwal's leaked video: AAP says it faces more than fair share of criticism

AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal today found himself in a spot after a leaked video showed him in conversation with a journalist telling him to highlight certain parts of the interview for maximum impact. Soon after the video went viral, the media house concerned immediately issued a clarification that the entire interview was done live, denying any collusion with the political party and claiming that the leaked video was an attempt to malign its reputation. Grabbing the opportunity to attack the AAP leader, the BJP called the leaked video an “expose” on the double standards of AAP. “AAP is tarnishing all political parties. They went after Narendra Modi and brought in Snoopgate, Godhra riots and what not. Why are they silent about what happened today?” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman asked during a panel discussion on CNN-IBN. The fierce attack on AAP is not unexpected from the BJP with Kejriwal taking on the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in his own backyard in Gujarat. AAP leader Ashish Khetan, a former journalist who is now also an AAP candidate in New Delhi, contended that the viral video cannot be called an “expose”. “What is the expose? How are we trying to influence the media? The targetting on AAP is disproportionate by the media as the party faces immense criticism for small issues. We are not creating a Them versus Us situation. Our point is the media should focus on things like the Gujarat model of development and examine it critically,” Khetan said. The questioning on the effectiveness of the Modi’s Gujarat model of development did not go down well with the BJP. “Ashish Khetan is deflecting from the main issue. Why has AAP no courage to ask Congress about the funding of Bharat Nirman? They should not be lecture mongering to the BJP,” said an extremely agitated Sitharaman. When CNN-IBN editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai pointed out that the party could hardly blame the media as that amounts to shooting the messenger, Khetan said, “You cannot afford not to show Arvind Kejriwal. Arvind Kejriwal brings TRPs for the channels. But the media is still trying to malign Arvind. Arvind’s target is not the journalist who works in the field. It is the newsroom. A reporter on the ground has no editorial choice.” [caption id=“attachment_1427787” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Arvind Kejriwal. AP[/caption] However, Congress spokesperson CR Kesavan felt that AAP was going overboard in blaming the media. “Everybody wants to take advantage of the media. But AAP’s campaign is based on television and not vision. They are using the media to distract, deviate and deflect. For every problem AAP cannot blame the media,” Kesavan said. Former editor-in-chief, The Hindu, N Ram felt that the new political outfit is smartly using the media space. “AAP has been extremely clever is using broadcast space be it TV or print. AAP is not setting the agenda but influencing the agenda. But it must be accepted that there is an unconventional approach by AAP. It is also important to know that the media has every right to pass political judgments,” Ram said.