The leader of India’s anti-corruption “Common Man’s Party”, a long-time scourge of the country’s elite, drew widespread ridicule on Friday after being pictured flying business class to the Gulf.
Arvind Kejriwal was snapped by a fellow passenger, sitting in business class and being offered a glass of juice by a flight attendant on his way from Delhi to Dubai, where he is to pick up an award. The picture was circulated on social media.
The former tax inspector made a point of using public transport rather than use his official car during a tumultuous 49 days as Delhi’s chief minister earlier this year, including to his own inauguration.
During May’s general election, he also attacked his fellow party leaders for their jet-set lifestyles, deriding what he called “helicopter democracy” as he canvassed from the back of a battered and aging jeep.
Meenakshi Lekhi, a member of parliament from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, said that the photo “exposed” Kejriwal as a hypocrite.
“This is not how common people live,” Lekhi, who represents Delhi in the national parliament, said.
“I am not saying it is wrong to aspire for a better lifestyle, it is a question of pretences. Don’t pretend to be what you are not. “This Mr Jekyll and Hyde cannot work.”
A spokeswoman for the rival Congress party said “the real face of the party has been revealed” by the picture.
While there was no immediate response from Kejriwal himself, some of the top lieutenants in his Aam Aadmi Party said the row was a storm in a tea cup.
