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Since bursting onto the national political scene, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal has frequently gone on vipassana retreats, meditation breaks during which one remains in complete isolation and practises self-observation.
On Tuesday, Kejriwal began a 10-day vipassana session in Hoshiarpur, Punjab. This comes just weeks after his party lost the Delhi Assembly polls to the BJP, with the former Chief Minister losing his seat.
The AAP leader began his vipassana just a day after the end of the first Assembly session of the new legislature in Delhi, which saw the tabling of several Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports on the performance of the AAP government, including on the excise policy case in which Kejriwal is out on bail.
Kejriwal’s Punjab visit also assumes significance amid the Congress’s claim that several AAP MLAs were ready to defect and Kejriwal would now play a bigger role in Punjab politics. The AAP has dismissed all such rumours, including that Bhagwant Mann will be replaced as the CM of Punjab, where the party remains in power.
Kejriwal’s first public brush with vipassana came days after the newly formed AAP contested its first Assembly election on December 4, 2013. He returned before counting on December 8. The AAP won 28 of the 70 Assembly seats in that election and Kejriwal became the CM for the first time, with support from the Congress that was reduced to eight seats after three consecutive terms in power under Sheila Dikshit.
However, Kejriwal’s first term lasted less than two months. Unable to pass the anti-corruption Jan Lokpal Bill, with the Congress refusing to support it, Kejriwal resigned in February 2014 and Delhi was placed under Central rule.
Kejriwal’s second vipassana retreat, this time in Haryana, came days before the 2014 Lok Sabha election results were announced. Kejriwal contested that election against Narendra Modi in Varanasi, with the AAP winning only four of the 432 seats it contested.
Kejriwal’s next vipassana trip, in Himachal Pradesh, came in August 2016 following his party’s win in the 2015 Assembly polls in Delhi that saw him become CM for the second time. While he was away, the Delhi High Court ruled that the Capital “continues to be a Union Territory” under the administrative control of the Lieutenant Governor and “does not acquire the status of a State”.
The AAP government’s troubles with the Centre had begun by then as it was in a constant war of words with the L-G’s office for control of administration in the national capital. Kejriwal also repeatedly accused the Centre of interfering in Delhi’s affairs through the LG.
In September 2017, after the party’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 trip to Maharashtra.
In September 2021, months before the AAP contested in its first Chandigarh Municipal Corporation election, Kejriwal again went on a vipassana retreat in Jaipur.
For the AAP, December 2022 was a good month. First, it ended the BJP’s hold over the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) by winning 134 of the 250 seats. It then opened its account in the Gujarat Assembly elections, winning five seats. Kejriwal then ended the year with a vipassana session.
“Many hundred years ago Lord Buddha taught this knowledge. Have you done vipassana? If not, then definitely do it once. There are a lot of mental, physical and spiritual benefits,” Kejriwal posted on X before the trip.
After returning, he said, “After seven days of vipassana meditation, I have come out today. Meditation has always given me spiritual strength and mental peace. This time also I am returning with more energy and with a resolve to serve the country.” The BJP accused Kejriwal of taking a “leisure break” while Delhi citizens were “suffering in harsh winters”.
In late December 2023, as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned him for questioning in the Delhi excise policy case, Kejriwal left for a 10-day vipassana retreat in Punjab. The CM had also skipped the previous two ED summons.
The BJP targeted Kejriwal over the trip, questioning its timing and also that he went to Punjab.
Kejriwal isn’t the only politician to go on regular vipassana sessions. Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, is also known to practise vipassana as is his sister and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi.
In 2015, Rahul took a 57-day sabbatical shrouded in secrecy, except that a vipassana centre was involved. Two years earlier, in April 2013, Rahul held a three-day Youth Congress session at a vipassana ashram in Mohankheda in Madhya Pradesh as well as a meeting later that year in Pune.
In October 2021, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had announced 15-day leave for state government officials and employees if they wished to attend a vipassana retreat at the Buddha Smriti Park in Patna. In May 2022, Nitish himself visited a vipassana centre to meditate.
