Starting a career at IIT Kharagpur as a mechanical engineer to spearheading a series of protests calling for public service to now settling as the Chief Minister of the national capital.
Arvind Kejriwal is a man who has observed and lived a series of multiple professions in his lifetime. The three-time Delhi CM who has stood for his ideals since assuming the office and is well acclaimed for his simplicity has turned 55 today.
On his birth anniversary, a look into Kejriwal’s life how a normal man coming from a small village in Haryana assumed Delhi’s highest post at the government office. Arvind Kejriwal was born to Gobind Ran Kejriwal and Gita Devi in a small village of Siwani in Hisar district of Haryana on August 16th in 1968.
He traveled to the country’s eastern part to take up his degree in mechanical engineering from IIT Kharagpur. Upon the completion of his, B-Tech in 1989 Kejriwal served in one of India’s biggest conglomerates Tata Steel.
He left the job after a while and cracked UPSC to join Indian Revenue Services in 1993 where he served as the Joint Commissioner in the Income Tax department.
Kejriwal’s professional journey is a mash of different traits during his service he brought the fake Ration Card scam into the light in the years 1999 and started an NGO by the name of ‘parivartan’ to address citizen’s grievances around the public distribution system, public works, social welfare schemes, income tax, and electricity.
His dedication and commitment to social services made him resign from the job of Revenue Services in 2006 and the same year he received the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership. The prize money that he received was donated as a corpus fund to set up the Public Cause Research Foundation.
A social activist, political reformer, and former Joint Commissioner in the Income Tax department. Kejriwal is known for his commitment to the Right to Information and struggles for the anti-corruption Lokpal.
Arvind Kejriwal in association with Anna Hazare stirred a nationwide protest against the then Congress government at the center. This was the time that marked the beginning of a new inning in Kejriwal’s life.
He rolled out a political outfit by the name of the Aam Aadmi Party in November, 26th 2012. Kejriwal contested in the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections and fielded candidates from his party. He managed to defeat the then Chief Minister Sheila Dixit by a whopping margin of 25,864 votes from the New Delhi constituency.
In its first-ever election, AAP secured 28 seats out of 70 and formed a coalition government with Congress in the national capital which was widely criticized by the opposition parties. Arvind Kejriwal took oath as the CM for the first time in 2013 for just 49 days after which his government fell.
Though his return in 2015 was a banger when he worked for the foundational consolidation of his political party and won a shocking 67 out of 70 seats. Which fell to 62 in the 2020 Vidhan Sabha elections.
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Kejriwal in the year 2014 fought against the Indian Prime Minister for the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency in the year’s general elections which he lost miserably.
Facts about Kejriwal’s personal life:
Arvind Kejriwal was known by the name ‘Krishna’ in his childhood because of his birth on Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Shri Krishna.
He is a pure vegetarian and is fond of practicing Yoga. Kejriwal aspired to become a doctor but went for engineering on his father’s choice. Kejriwal married his 1993 batchmate an IRS officer Sunita in 1995. The couple is blessed with a boy Pulkit and a girl Harshita.
Kejriwal first met to the love of her life at Nagpur-based Indian Administrative Academy where the two were training after getting shortlisted for the IRS.
Kejriwal’s book Swaraj was widely acclaimed and remained in news for a long. Before getting selected for the Indian Revenue Services Kejriwal served in the foundation of Mother Teresa, Nehru Yuva Kendra, and Ramkrishna Mission.
His government has been at constant loggerheads with the Narendra Modi government and the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor, over issues revolving around public appointments, the responsibility of the UT and the Centre, etc.
At present Kejriwal is seen as one of the biggest faces of the opposition in the nation. His administration has earned him a bulk load of accolades and recognition over the years.