NEW DELHI: Admitting that CM Arvind Kejriwal’s government sometimes does things in a hurry, Aam Aadmi Party leader Yogendra Yadav has said there is a need to slow down. In a candid TV interview, the party ideologue acknowledged that there is a sense of urgency in the “energetic” Kejriwal to do things.

Responding to a question on mistakes being made by the Kejriwal government, Yadav said, “I do feel we have tried too much. Anxiety, the pressure of being in public gaze has created artificial pressure on the government. We have a lot to learn.” However, he quickly added, “Let’s not hurry in blaming the government of being in too much of a hurry because here is a chief minister who has raised questions that should have been raised 20 years ago.”

The senior leader also admitted that the party failed to anticipate the loss of public perception after the episode involving law minister Somnath Bharti and confessed that the party has a lot of learning to do. “The party came across as shielding someone who had done something wrong. On Day 1, we should have come up with facts but we allowed that perception to consolidate. A lot of learning and a lot of experience for us,” Yadav said. The former journalist also said that the AAP was getting too much publicity and the attention was avoidable. “Half of the things we do are not worth the publicity it gets. I feel a lot of things must happen outside the public gaze,” he said.

Yadav asserted that Bharti’s midnight raid on African women was not racist. “There is no evidence which shows his actions were racist,” Yadav said, adding there was nothing ‘vigilante’ in what Bharti had done as the minister had called police even as he was seeking action against the alleged prostitution and drug racket involving Africans. Yadav also defended other crucial decisions taken by the party such as the government’s decision to sit on dharna, reservation in Delhi University for local students, opposition to FDI in retail and replacement of bureaucrats as soon as it was sworn to power.

Justifying Kejriwal’s dharna seeking action against Delhi Police, Yadav said the dharna was much-needed, much awaited for better governance in Delhi and Kejriwal defied no law in doing that. “You should ask police why Section 144 was imposed when a chief minister was going to meet the home minister. It was a small but symbolic victory for the people of Delhi.”

On the government’s decision to replace officials, the AAP leader said they were bureaucrats who were loyal to a particular regime for 15 years. He also defended the party’s governance style.

The AAP leader also lashed out at the Ambani-led BYPL for trying to hold Delhi hostage on the power situation, and said the government has alternatives if it is forced to cancel the licence of the company.