He made absolute fools of all in this wonderfully rule-breaking
country of ours including this writer. This writer, inspired so foolishly at
the prospect of an ‘honest’ government coming to rule the capital, called upon
him not to go overboard. But enough political knowledge was necessary to
understand the reality that he wanted to go overboard all the time so that he
could blissfully avoid governance, go back to the streets and start anew his
blame-game kind of ‘darbari’ politics. Arvind Kejriwal, the 48-day old Chief Minister
of Delhi, resigned tonight because it had been his game plan to climax his departure
with the Jan Lokpal Bill (Peoples’ Ombudsman Bill against corruption which is stronger than the
Lokpal Bill already passed by the Indian Parliament). Alas! Thanks to all his
drama and brinkmanship he proved himself to be as good and shrewd a politician like
others we are always used to. Like the others he too holds the common man in a fittingly
unhealthy contempt with the ‘common’ attributes: That common people have their
brains not at the right places; that they have short-term memory; that they are
very emotional and eternally vulnerable; that they can be fooled again, again
and again and that a use and throw policy is the perfect choice to deal with
the common man. His supporters gathered at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Headquarters
tonight in Delhi looked like an unholy pack of zombies unseeing, shouting and
following blindly.
Arvind Kejriwal first tried the Janata Darbars
meaning public courts. He got scared in the very first and gave up the idea
fearing for his dear life. Then he shielded his openly guilty minister, Somnath
Bharati, passing on the blame to the central Home ministry and lamenting the fact
that he did not have control over the Delhi Police. He created anarchy in the
capital leading his supporters in the streets and even spending a full night
with them in the streets. He got very ill, so he got scared again and called a
truce having some understanding with the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi. About
that time he started talking about his ultimate weapon of populism that is Jan
Lokpal Bill and made it clear that he would resign if the Bill is not passed by
the Delhi Assembly. In the meantime he protested against a natural gas price
hike and lodged FIRs against two Government of India ministers and a business
tycoon. He wanted to introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill in Delhi Assembly today
totally disregarding the law and the constitution and despite LG advising him
that since there is already a central legislation on that issue certain rules
had to be followed or else the Bill could not be introduced. Kejriwal also
wanted to have his Assembly session in the open stadium to which the LG said a
clear no. Luckily he did not resign then and there. He could have waited a few
more days to challenge the said laws in courts or could have followed the rules
to properly introduce the Bill. And he resigned not even bothering about the
much touted FIRs or his other promises to common people.
He proves another point that this writer has
mentioned in these pages often. Anybody fighting corruption suddenly becomes
the noblest soul, totally self-insulated, in this country and if someone complains against him/her it is a conspiracy
naturally involving the rival political parties. From Baba Ramdev to a bureaucrat
or policeman or lawyer or anyone attains this status of the Untouchable the
moment s/he joins the fight against corruption. This is more similar to a dip
in holy Ganga and cleansing yourself of all sins instantly. Therefore, presently in our wonderfully rule-breaking
country you can, immaterial if you are corrupt or not, just join the fight against corruption and attain the status of
The Untouchable instantly.
Now, the great AAP leader would start campaigning for
the General Elections in his beloved streets and would continue blaming the
Congress or BJP or any other rival party. Tonight he already started by putting
the blame squarely on Congress and BJP for not supporting the Jan Lokpal Bill. For
once these two national parties tonight are shouting rather righteously that
they do always support the Jan Lokpal Bill, but did not support the way it was
brought on the floor.
Arvind Kejriwal, being a ‘common’ man himself, must
never underestimate the power of the common man! The common man is not
always a fool and s/he can bounce back totally overturning the AAP cart. Amen!
