Dubai: Anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said Indian media wanted to “finish” his Aam Aadmi Party which has emerged as the main challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the forthcoming assembly elections in Delhi.

On a two-day visit to Dubai to meet his supporters and receive the ‘award of Asia’s most inspiring and young social changemaker at World Brands Summit’, Kejriwal addressed a series of meetings on Friday evening. “It seems a section of Indian media wants to finish AAP,” he told Gulf News, adding, “there are some good journalists too.”

His statement came a day after news media and politicians attacked him for travelling in business class on a flight to Dubai. His political opponents and media accused Kejriwal of “double standards” when he flew business class while claiming to represent the Aam Aadmi or common man. “Is it a crime to fly business class,” he asked.

“They say how can a common man fly business class … once I flew from Varanasi to Delhi in economy class and they [media] said how can I take a flight,” he said. “Whatever we do we will be attacked by them.”

On Thursday, a BJP spokesman said: “This shows the double standards of AAP. On one hand, they are asking people to donate for their election campaign, and on the other, they are flying business class. We have been told that Kejriwal refused to fly economy.” Kejriwal’s party, however, denied the allegation saying his Dubai host insisted on him flying business class as he was unwell.

Kejriwal’s party has emerged as the principal opponent of the BJP in Delhi state where assembly elections will be held early next year.

“The common man does not necessarily mean a poor man, our party believes the common man is someone who wants to change India’s corrupt system,” he told a gathering of Indian businessmen and professionals. “Even a rich man can be a common man and he can travel in any class. Any rich or poor man who wants to fight the corrupt is a common man.”

“I want to bring in a system where a common man can fly business class and certainly don’t want business class travellers to travel in crowded trains … I want progress.”

Slamming corruption in government, Kejriwal said: “Indians are first-class citizens who are victims of third class governments and I want to change that.”

“How Dubai turned from a desert city into a bustling metropolis in a few decades … all this development happened because of a visionary leadership. India has all natural resources, yet we lag behind in development. We have talented people who come to work in places like Dubai and are doing well. But the same people are unable to replicate this success in India due to lack of opportunities.”

Kejriwal was expected to travel to New York late Saturday to meet his supporters.

— Bobby Naqvi is Editor of XPRESS, a sister publication of Gulf News.