Since he announced the formation ation of his political
party on October 2, Arvind Kejriwal has gone on to set
the political agenda, hogging headlines day after day. He has proved all those
who dismissed him as a spent force, after his break with Anna Hazare, wrong.Kejriwal
has shown an understanding of the popular mood among the urban middle class.
The more he ups the ante against politicians, the more people love him. Such is
the environment in the country that any charge, right or wrong, against any politician
sticks.His first “political” act, to
take on
Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law, Robert Vadra, made him a hero
overnight. He had had the courage to
challenge the top of the political establishment, something even opposition
parties had failed to do. The information about Vadra was available in the
public domain for over a year. But neither the media — though an article
came out in The Economic Times, and the information was available online — nor
the BJP, the main opposition party, chose to pursue it. There was a serious
discussion inside the BJP on whether the party should target Vadra, but it
decided against it.There is an unwritten code among parties not to target each
others’ family members. Congress leader Digvijay Singh referred to this when he
alluded that the Congress could have moved against Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s
adopted son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya and Advani’s son and daughter.
Though the BJP was compelled to flay Vadra in the wake of
Kejriwal’s attack, fearing that it may otherwise have to cede opposition space
to him, Kejriwal is rapidly changing the rules of the game — as also the rules
of political discourse. His strategy is
to expose individual politicians rather than look at why the system is throwing
up errant politicians in hordes, across parties. There are enough people in the
system giving IAC information abut those they would like to see exposed.They
see this as a golden opportunity to get even with opponents. His exposes presuppose the belief that replacing the present lot of politicians with
another set would solve the problem. This way Kejriwal does not have to
immediately present a cogent plan
of action for tackling corruption, or indicate his solutions to the country’s
pressing problems. Neither does he have to, as the leader of a new political
party, indicate the sections of society his party would identify with and
represent. For the moment, he is jolting
parties and unnerving politicians. He comprehends the nature of the media better than most politicians and uses it to his advantage. He
was, for instance, savvy enough to come
out with the Vadra revelations not as a film but as a serial, maintaining the suspense
about the next installment.Having gone
for Vadra and Salman Khurshid, he took on BJP chief Nitin Gadkari even though
most of what he revealed had already been made public. This was essentially a
move to portray himself as being even handed after being accused of only targeting
the Congress. Even as Kejriwal turns the searchlight on a sick system, there is a worrying aspect of his style of
functioning.
It may be
encouraging the mentality of a lynch mob, which decides that someone is guilty
— many politicians are — and it will not
hear of anything else because public opinion it is catering to is so enraged. Even
if Salman Khurshid and Nitin Gadkari are guilty, they must be given the right
to be heard, to defend themselves, and be given the benefit of doubt till proved
guilty. This is not just about
legalities, but about the principles of fair play which make for the rule of
law that underpins our democracy, decrepit though it has become. Of course, Kejriwal is fighting a battle of
perceptions and may not worry about
legalities.Disillusioned with the Congress and unenamoured of the BJP,
many middle class Indians say they will give him a chance at poll time.
But building a new party is not an easy
proposition in a country as large and
diverse as India. For all his impeccable
credentials, Jayaprakash Narayan, shied away from it in 1977, choosing instead to bring all the opposition forces
together to take on the Congress for the Emergency it had imposed. VP Singh did
likewise in 1989 as he waged a battle against Rajiv
Gandhi around the issue of corruption.Kejriwal has managed to give a fillip to
an anti-Congress mood that has been
building up in the country. Because he will cut into the opposition space
wherever he picks up strength — like in Delhi — the BJP has cause to worry. It
appears that besides Delhi, where he has been most visible, he will focus on
Haryana, the state to which he belongs and where he is fast becoming a
household name. He may also want to make an impact politically by
challenging some heavyweights like
Salman Khurshid and Nitin Gadkari in their fiefdoms. Since his efforts
will weaken national parties, it could
lead to a more fractured mandate next time that will throw up a weaker
government, more vulnerable to powerful pressures from domestic and foreign quarters.
Some middle class Indians would vote for him but others would worry about the
possibility of a greater instability, and about his lack of familiarity with
governance. Given the present mood
against the high level corruption and economic hardship, a weak leadership and
policy drift, the Kejriwal phenomenon may go on to create a fertile ground for
the entry on the national stage of someone like Narendra Modi, who sports the image
of a tough leader and deliverer, is a
workaholic with no charges of corruption, no family and is known for
demagoguery. But then it would also
polarise the polity on the other side. Kejriwal is a wild card in Indian
politics today, and one can only hope that it will push our democracy to find the necessary
correctives. The writer is a political and social commentator
By Girija Chaudhari
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