A new page has been started on Facebook by students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-Kgp), of which Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal is an alumnus, decrying the policies of the AAP.Supporters of the party at IIT-Kgp had launched as many as three Facebook pages after the party's stellar victory in the Delhi assembly elections last year. Now, winds of change on the social networking site mirror growing anti-AAP sentiment, courtesy the "IITians against AAP" page."We are just a group of IITians who are against the policy of AAP. We don't officially represent IIT," a disclaimer says.With posts that highlight controversies that have bedevilled the party in the last few days, the page proclaims that it is "an honest effort by a group of IITians to stop misuse of the prestigious institution's name by a particular political party".
A link on the page Friday said: "Sign the petition if you think Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharati should be sacked." This comes after vigilante action by the law minister at Khirki village in south Delhi against alleged prostitution and drug abuse by African women became controversial, and resulted in a stand-off between Delhi Police and the ruling party in Delhi. Another post labelled "hypocrisy" takes a satirical look at Kejriwal terming the Batla House encounter of 2008 "fake". Since its release date Dec 25 last year, the page has garnered 21,324 likes.Asked about his reaction to the Facebook posts, AAP worker and student of IIT-Kgp Ritesh Singh said there were bigger issues to focus on."If people want to oppose it, they can. But there are core issues to focus on like dowry etc. Why not a page that says 'IITians against dowry'? People should speak against issues, not a party or an inpidual," Singh, an M.Tech student, told IANS.