Ram Kishan Grewal, a former Army jawan, who was supposedly protesting over the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme, allegedly committed suicide on Tuesday under mysterious circumstances. The news was first broken by an AAP MLA, Commando Surender who claimed that Ram Kishan Grewal had come to Delhi to protest: “He was protesting at Jantar Mantar and had then proceeded to meet the Defence Minister with a group of fellow protesters when he consumed poison”.
The jawan purportedly left a suicide letter, in which he claimed that he still wasn’t getting OROP. A jawan had lost his life, and the political battle had just begun. Delhi CM Kejriwal was quick to try to extract political mileage from the scenario. He tried to visit the jawan’s family in the hospital but was detained by the police. He soon tried to play victim, but was exposed by social media:
The H word>>> pic.twitter.com/ib7XQ2b9U0
— Raju Das | ৰাজু দাস (@rajudasonline) November 2, 2016
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Didn’t went to meet Dr.Narang’s kin as they were in Shock!
Rushed to meet Grewal’s kin coz maybe he thinks they’re Celebrating in Hospital pic.twitter.com/GDkMqxS7zk
— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) November 2, 2016
Kejriwal had conveniently forgotten that in March this year, when a 40-year-old dentist Dr Narang, was beaten to death in front of his family by about a dozen people in West Delhi’s Vikaspuri area, it was Kejriwal himself who had tweeted that he would visit the family after a few days since he realised they were in a state of shock. Apparently in Kejriwal’s world, the family members of a jawan do not deserve such considerations since they can be used for politics.
Later Kejriwal tweeted that since a jawan had allegedly committed suicide due to non-receipt of OROP dues, it was proved that OROP was in fact not at all functional. But here again ordinary Indians exposed Kejriwal’s lies:
Dear @ArvindKejriwal.. My father and grand father are ex-army. They already get thr First installment of #OROP.
Pls do not mislead Ppl. https://t.co/Jy0nIcvSu1— Pradeep Mamgain (@PcMNavy) November 2, 2016
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You are a liar @ArvindKejriwal. I have already got first TWO installments of OROP. Stop your nonsense & get on with governing Delhi. https://t.co/evYbkgWOnp
— Devendra (@Majordevendra) November 2, 2016
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U r lying @ArvindKejriwal. My FIL got it and gave money to his grandkids money to buy crackers as I cannot afford it. Shame on u. https://t.co/QahkljqpQE
— Keshav Karunakar (@kkarunakar) November 2, 2016
Soon, Kejriwal had to face another embarrassment as the CM who was in grief and shock, on the way to meet the grieving family of a jawan who had just committed suicide, was photographed at the venue in far better moods:
Have a look . It’s so obvious that @ArvindKejriwal is heart broken over #OROP and is in tears pic.twitter.com/Ct9bH1LNQf
— Kolahoi (@PawanDurani) November 2, 2016
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If Kejriwal had entered the field how could Congress and Rahul Gandhi stay behind? When Rahul Gandhi tried to visit the family, he too was detained by the cops. And seeking to make Rahul a “hero” as per some Congress script, Congress leaders jumped in to sensationalise the issue, only to be brought to ground on social media. Randeep Surjewala claimed Rahul had been “arrested”, when he had only been detained:
Detained, not arrested. Huge difference. https://t.co/7yHvlck3uQ
— Raju Das | ৰাজু দাস (@rajudasonline) November 2, 2016
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Twitter users also wondered what moral grounds Rahul Gandhi had to protest against the Government which delivered the same OROP which his grand mother Indira Gandhi had withdrawn almost 40 yrs ago:
The Congi vultures out in force again.The boy whose grandmom repealed OROP has the gumption to protest OROP.
— Barbarian Indian (@barbarindian) November 2, 2016
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Even though Rahul Gandhi was portrayed to be in distress by Congress leaders, pictures showed otherwise. A beaming and smiling Rahul Gandhi was snapped right outside the hospital gate and again exposed by social media for his hollow sorrow:
Rahul Gandhi’s face — look at it closely. Grief writ large over a man committing suicide. This is genuine grief. Cameras do not lie. pic.twitter.com/5J2i6ARMkH
— কাঞ্চন গুপ্ত (@KanchanGupta) November 2, 2016
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Rahul Gandhi at Hospital today . See the face expressions and big smile pic.twitter.com/oVB4vrURTr
— Tajinder Pal S Bagga (@TajinderBagga) November 2, 2016
Soon a video emerged, showing Rahul Gandhi in a police station arguing with the cops. And social media users found that Rahul Gandhi was woefully uninformed about the issue. He was seemingly confused as to the person who was detained with him, was the father or the son of the jawan who committed suicide:
RG: His son has died
Army man’s son: No, my father died
RG: OK, he’s father of dead jawanpic.twitter.com/CBA49pOGlU#OROP #OROPSuicidePolitics— SecularScientist (@SwarupPhD) November 2, 2016
Worse, in the same video, towards the end, Rahul was seeing saying “Theek hai ho gaya” to the person recording the video, as if to signal one act of the drama was over:
इस वीडियो के अंत में जब राहुल वीडियो बनाने वाले से ‘ठीक है हो गया’ बोलते हैं तो मनमोहन सिंह के वीडियो वाला ‘ठीक है’ याद आ जाता है. ????pic.twitter.com/u6UPpQXYAF
— Anuraag Muskaan (@anuraagmuskaan) November 2, 2016
Finally, late in the evening, Kejriwal tweeted that he too had been detained, and continued to live-tweet even while being detained, which again led to ridicule:
Sir, Phone aapke pass hai. Google Maps ki app par dekh lo! Present aur Final sab location dikh jaayengi 🙂 https://t.co/W4UGGNawZM
— Nitin Gupta (@Nitin_Rivaldo) November 2, 2016
And in this, a Pakistani even welcomed Kejriwal:
@ArvindKejriwal to Pakistan. We will welcome you Sir
— Farhan Khan Virk (@FarhanKVirk) November 2, 2016
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While social media exposes the hollowness of this vulture politics, it is important to investigate the alleged suicide, and the circumstances which led a brave jawan to take such a cowardly step.
