Arvind Kejriwal – Crafty Politician or Great Leader in Making?

Arvind Kejriwal – This is the name which became a literally household name in India. He is being shown as the typical Aam Admi (Common Man) which is also the name of the party started by his group of social activists. Less than one year from the start of the Aam Admi Party, he became Chief Minister of Delhi. He resigned after 49 days as Chief Minister of Delhi. Within this short period, he and his colleagues were in news every hour be it supply of free water, proposal of reduction of electricity tariff, the affair of his law minister, ordering lodging of FIRs against Sheila Dixit, Former and Present Union Petroleum Ministers, Mukhesh Ambani, attempt to introduce a radical Jan Lokpal bill. Sounds very impressive – RIGHT??

Lets us look at this a little bit more closely. Kejriwal is an IIT, Kharagpur Alumini and a Ramon Magsaysay Award winner for excellence in public life mainly working for the Right to Information. He is the founder of several NGOs and is an staunch advocate of transperancy and accountability of public governance. However, his name did not come into limelight till he was part of the think tank along with others like Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan behind Anna Hazare. Anna Hazare came into prominence with his well publicized fasts for the passing of Lokpal Bill for good governance. Though the thought is excellent, the execution was a little tardy and this has resulted in introduction of a watered down version of the Bill in Parliament. Though personally I believe that this is nothing but hijacking the parliamentary process by brute mass movement, there was really a movement for this bill.

The story of Kajriwal took a curious turn around the second or third fast of Anna Hazare. During this fast or in the aftermath the group led by Kejriwal proposed to float a political party which was not favoured by Anna Hazare. Ultimately Arvind Kejriwal started Aam Admi Party along with his group. Just like any new outfit which needs to ensure visibility through advertisement, this party also started showing off with several agitations be it like his assertion of not to pay power bills in Delhi by tearing off the power bills or agitation during the Nirbhaya episode. Many people remember and react emotionally to the Nirbhaya gangrape episode. There is no doubt the case was highly revolting and reprehensible. However, though it was publicized during that time, little notice was taken of lynching of a middle aged policeman during this agitation. Though everybody denined and condemned there is a possibility of some of the aam admis involved in this lynching. At that time the party was very vocal that Sheila Dixit failed in governance and she resign and should be arrested etc.

Contrary to expectations, the party won good number of seats just 7 short of majority in recently concluded elections to Delhi Assembly. Initially, AAP and Kejriwal was asserting that they will sit in opposition but not form a government with support from either BJP or Congress. He has put up several conditions for accepting the support from Congress stating that this will not alter his stance against their corruption, investigating their activities etc. However, within two days, after conducting a so called referendum among his supporters, he formed a government with the support of same Congress. This is nothing but political opportunism for which the other two parties are famous for.

Notice the reaction of same Kejriwal during the gangrape case which happened during his 49 day rule. He blamed it on the Delhi Police inefficiency and wanted the control of Delhi Police to be given to Delhi Government by the Central Home Ministry. Around the same time there was another issue where Aam Admi Party Law Ministry went and ordered Delhi Police to arrest a group of Ugandan women in a case of drugs, prostitution etc. Delhi Police refused this order stating that they do not have an arrest warrant. The law minister alongwith his supporters forcibly taken the women for medical examination and the results were negative. Throughout the episode where he was on streets, there was strong assertions that he was working of the good governance, public accountability and ended in a whimper when he accepted the offer of Home Ministry to send two police officials on leave.

It is true his government has given free water to those who had metered connections. But this is limited to a certain amount per month and any utilisation over and above will be charged for full and not for the excess utilisation which is contrary to the expectation of his voters. Another idea is to provide a reduction in electricity bills for those who participated in the agitations of Aam Admi Party. Now how this will be determined? Most probably by based on the registration of the members in the party. Does that mean that people who disrupt the public life will be benefiting from their activities while those who supported their party silently in election will be ignored?

This reached a peak during the introduction of Jan Lokpal Bill. Instead of giving the members of assembly time to go through the bill, the same was to be introduced immediately till the Lieutenant Governor stopped the bill stating that it does not have his approval. Despite this Kejriwal went ahead and introduced the bill and was defeated ultimately resulting in resignation of his government.

At each stage of the short period of governance, there was attempts by his party in disrupting the public life by strikes, confrontations, demonstrations. In fact, the number of demonstrations which happened during this short period from the formation of AAP might not have happened during the entire terms of any of the earlier Delhi Chief Minister. Also the middle class who supported him during the Delhi polls are slowly moving away from his party which can be seen from

It is true any novice in governance will do some mistakes unknowingly. But Kejriwal is in public life for the last many years either in his capacity as a bureaucrat or through his contact with government through NGOs he managed. He and his group fully knows well that his core vote bank is expecting more from while this would have proved otherwise one year down the line had he continued his government as most of the sops announced by him are not sustainable. Now he is concentrating of the coming Lok Sabha Polls instead of concentrating on Delhi. It shows the concentration is more on the bigger fruit than that already in hand. This is normally the hallmark of a crafty politician who looks for the highest possible benefit instead of nurturing and building up the loyalties. He can become a great leader by concentrating on the problem taken up by the party and prove that they are upto the task of good governance instead of concentrating on short term gains. He has the necessary acumen for doing this. If not he will go into the history as another crafty politician who showed great promise but could not deliver.