Arun Jaitley hits out at AAP, says ‘right to vulgarity’ not available to Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Hitting out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday accused him and AAP leaders of lowering the level of public discourse, saying vulgarity is not a right available to people in such positions.

Under relentless attack from Kejriwal and AAP leaders on alleged corruption in Delhi cricket body DDCA, he said the Aam Adami Party's success in Delhi seems to have misled the Congress party that vulgarity brings vote.

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"What about the statements made by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Delhi about the Prime Minister and others, both inside and outside Delhi Assembly? If any functionary of the Government of India were to use such language, it would witness a nationwide outrage,” Jaitley said in a Facebook post.

"People in positions are expected to act with restraint. They cannot be outlandish. Vulgarity is not a right available to them. The political discourse cannot be couched in vulgar language. Falsehood delivered with vulgar overtones is not a substitute of truth," Jaitley added, while asking "Is vulgarity a new norm of Indian politics?"

Answering it himself, "I hope not," Jaitley, who has filed civil and criminal defamation suits against Kejriwal and other AAP leaders, said lumpenisation of public discourse can never be high point of politics.

At a lecture yesterday, he had lamented that the public discourse in India has become vulgar.

"Functionaries of the Delhi Government and its supporters have lowered the level of political discourse. They rely heavily on general falsehood without ever stating the specifics," he said.

Following is the full text of Jaitley's Facebook post:

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