Punjab aspirants throng Vipassana centre, return disappointed

DHARAMSALA: Ticket aspirants of AAP from Punjab which is due to go to the polls early next year are hovering around the Vipassana Centre in Dharamkot looking for an opportunity to get an audience with Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal

Updated At : 05:49 AM Aug 06, 2016 IST

The Vipassana Centre in Dharamkot

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, August 5

Ticket aspirants of AAP from Punjab which is due to go to the polls early next year are hovering around the Vipassana Centre in Dharamkot looking for an opportunity to get an audience with Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal. The Delhi CM is undergoing a 10-day meditation camp at Dharamkot near Dharamsala. His meditation camp started on August 2 and will end on August 11.

Though it is lean tourist season one can find many vehicles with Punjab registration number at the main crossing of Dharamkot. Many of visitors from Punjab can be seen seeing sitting in a tea shop located on main crossing of Dharamkot. Though most of them refused to talk, some of them admitted that they had come here to meet Kejriwal.

Ajay Mahajan, a resident of Pathankot who claimed to be a social activist, said he wanted to discuss many issues with Kejriwal pertaining to the forthcoming Assembly elections in Punjab.

However, most of people who are coming here to interact with Kejriwal have to return disappointed. Due to strict schedule of Vipassana meditation — from 4 am to about 9.30 pm — none of the visitors got a chance to interact with Kejriwal. Moreover, no outsider is allowed inside the Vipassana centre during the meditation programme.

With no access to him, the supporters and political aspirants of Punjab and Himachal are roaming outside the centre disappointed as they are not even able to get a glimpse of Kejriwal.

Meditation course starts by 4.30 am with the breakfast break from 6.30 to 7.30, followed by lunch break from 11 am to around 12.30. The practitioners are not allowed to take heavy meals after mid day and the day’s programme ends around 9.30 PM. Kejriwal is practiaing meditation in a group of around 91 seekers.

Sources inside the centre said that this for the 23rd time that Kejriwal is taking such type of courses, but it is for the first time that he has come to this centre. As per the rules of the centre, he cannot take up any official work during the time he is here and will not have access to mobile phones, pagers, television or newspapers.