End Of Kejriwal Era In Sight

Prof N.K. Singh

Former Chairman International Airports Authority of India

Indian politics witnessed the rise of a star and similar meteoric fall of Arvind Kejriwal and his creation Aam Aadmi Party with its own jhadu symbol. Greatest hope of change in Indian politics turned out to be greatest flop. In Delhi, it is common to hear “jhadu wale ko jhadu lag gaya ab to”. A man who rose on the horizon of politics with slogans, like ‘Ham rajneeti karne nahin badlne aye hain’’ (we have come to change politics and not do politics) or we are anti-corruption movement leaders to clean the country of corruption, is now in tatters.

It is not only the voting by public in Goa, Punjab and Municipal Corporation of Delhi, but AAP’s making false statements, they have completely lost credibility. City of Delhi was very generous and perhaps too indulgent in their voting for them massively when all parties were virtually decimated. They promised moon but came a cropper after they failed to deliver and indulged in subversive and deliberately unconstitutional acts. After being mauled in Punjab and Goa, it was crucial for AAP to win Delhi Municipal Corporation, which had same voters as would be found in next assembly election. Kejriwal should have done honest toil to arrest the fall of his party but he continued to indulge in frivolous or abusive politics. For example, before the election he threatened the electorate of suffering from dengue and Chikungunya diseases if they vote for the opposition and not him. Could there be more foolish and desperate attempt than this almost idiotic threat?

Not only threats, he threw soaps like abolishing house tax etc if he wins. It was an ill thought and last ditch attempt to lure and fool public. The party that lived by the pledge to remove corruption allotted ticket on payment of two crore rupees from the candidates as claimed by ex-AAP leader Manish Gupta. There could be an amount of exaggeration but in Punjab too such complaints were common. They came into existence on removing corruption but indulged in all kinds of corruption and one third of its ministers were under some charges and allegations.

No doubt, the performance of Delhi Municipal Corporation was miserable and it could have given an easy pass to Kejriwal. But he failed in right selection and doing credible propaganda despite a large budget of tax payer he spent on his own publicity. I too did not expect that high score of BJP but polls showed and were, for a change, near correct in forecasting victory of the party that failed to deliver.

Most of the political commentators have given the credit to Narendra Modi since his credentials in Uttar Pradesh and performance in the country was noteworthy that led to his party’s victory. In my view, it was to a great extent Kejriwal himself who is responsible for the win of BJP. There was extreme disappointment with his negative and confrontationist politics. Even Anna Hazare whom he called his father like guru abandoned him for being unreliable due to double talk. Why did he run to capture Goa where he was completely routed with candidates losing deposits? It was his lust for power and greed to somehow capture the national attention for a national position. Many observers feel he should have focused on Delhi and provided clean and good governance which would have given him more strength to fight future election with his record. But he was mostly doing things beyond his powers and without following the system and rules. Those who expected an Indian Revenue officer with IIT degree to do clean work were disappointed as he acted and worked brash, abusive and unmindful of his constitutional responsibilities.

The end seems near for Kejriwal having lost perspective. First he blamed EVMs for his debacle only to be condemned by his mentor Anna Hazre. Again he takes a U-turn and confesses his blunders seeking apology from Delhi. Survey shows 82% will not pardon him as he got scotfree after a drama of apology in the past. There is already exploding revolt in his party and as his credibility is lost, he no longer can hope of a reprieve.

Bus Stand

First Passenger: “Why surveys show that Himachal has small amount of corruption?

Second Passenger: Like the cows, everything in Himachal is small scale.

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