An amazing rise so far. Is Kejriwal the real deal, though?
By Rajiv Theodore
NEW DELHI: For many of us here the image of Arvind Kejriwal beaming from nearly every television channel is so fresh that this ordinary man’s extraordinary race to the top of the political heap is a subject even B-school graduates has a lot to learn from.
This 45-year-old upstart rights activist’s transformation into a maverick political fighting machine (on issues close to people’s heart), and is all set to be sworn in as the youngest chief minister of Delhi, is the outcome of a swift stream of events within a span of a year.
“The date for oath ceremony will be fixed, and it would be taken at the Ramlila Maidan”, Kejriwal told reporters, today.
The ‘maidan’ in New Delhi was the scene of Kejriwal-Anna Hazare rallies against anti-corruption in the country and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was in many way a product, an outcome of this decisive agitation.
Kejriwal emerged as the force majeure in the recent Delhi elections, dislodging entrenched political giants like Congress (I) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress underestimated him and the BJP failed to formulate a strategy on how to effectively counter him.
With the same gentle confidence shown in the rallies, he had parked his ubiquitous Wagon-R Monday morning, which symbolizes the middle class in India as far as cars are concerned, at the office of the Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung, to hand over the letter stating that he was ready to form the government in Delhi.
“This is not my victory but that of the aam aadmi (common man). The aam aadmi will be chief minister, not me,” Kejriwal said after meeting Jung.
Kejriwal’s AAP won 28 seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly. The BJP was the single largest party, winning 31 seats, but too fell short of the number of 36 to form the government.
AAP will form the government with the support of Congress which could only rake in only 8 seats. Political pundits are keenly watching on how this new kid on the block is going to maneuver his way around and try and deliver the promises he had made during the intense campaigning which critics say bordered on anarchy and civil disobedience, and not have the rug pulled out from under his feet by the Congress.
For the last two weeks, Delhi saw a deadlock over who would form a government as the BJP which was called in first by Jung fought shy of forming the government. The AAP took its own time in arriving at Monday’s decision which mainly had been a result of a referendum via mobile phones, the social media and several meetings with people of Delhi.
An alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Kejriwal was a bureaucrat with the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), which he quit, to join activism. He was in the thick of grass-root level activism through ‘parivartan’ (change) and then got involved in pushing the Right to Information Act (RTI). In 2006, he bagged the Magsaysay award for ‘Emergent Leadership’ and with the award money formed an NGO, Public Cause Research Foundation.
In an interview to The Hindustan Times, in 2011, Kejriwal said that the RTI could only help dig out information on corruption but could not take any further action on the guilty. The India Against Corruption (IAC) which formed around that time had Anna Hazare spearheading it which plunged into a series of public agitations that mobilized the people and fired their imagination to take the reins of the government in their own hands.
AAP was formally launched on November 26, 2012. It was borne out of the differences between Kejriwal and Hazare on politicizing the IAC movement that had been demanding a Jan Lokpal Bill since 2011.
Once they form the government, Kejriwal’s promises of cutting electricity bills by half, providing 700 liters of free water for every household and passing of the Jan Lok Pal Bill in Delhi would be keenly watched by friends and foes alike. People would also look forward on how he would deliver on his other promises like ending VIP cultures with its symbolic red beacon cars, devolution of power to the people, cleaning the Yamuna river, regularizing 1,639 unauthorized colonies, building 500 schools on par with private schools in the city, and constructing two lakh community toilets, to name a few.
At one time, a favorite question of condescending TV anchors was to ask Kejriwal: “What will you do if you lose the elections?’’ To which Kejriwal would retort: “What would you do if I lose?” to allude to the fact that the people of Delhi would continue to face corruption. Now, he has got a chance to prove his point to his detractors.
Kejriwal’s journey has just begun. He has already set his eyes on increasing his pan India presence as the general elections in May, 2014. His votes next time will now depend on how well he performs as the Chief Minister of Delhi.
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