Kejriwal is stalling government formation in Delhi and forcing himself on Anna by playing mind games. He should all the charades as they are only ways of evading responsibility.
When Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party won 28 seats in Delhi assembly elections, it was an expected surprise for the people. For one, Congress was in bad position and the votes had to go somewhere, and second, this is how democracy works.
The party called it a victory of the people of Delhi, and termed it as the beginning of new kind of ‘clean politics’ in the country. However, in doing so it forgot that the Bhartiya Janata Party was a clear favorite of the people despite the AAP surge as it won 34 seats emerging as the single largest party in the state.
When the time came for forming a government, the mandate was of a hung assembly which needed to be solved by coalition politics, which is the new era democratic politics. But AAP made its stand clear – it will not accept the reality and float in the bubble of idealism that surrounds it.
Even when AAP sympathisers and supporters suggested that AAP forms an alliance with either BJP or Congress and forms the government, Kejriwal reiterated in front of the media that his party will not align with either of the parties. He excused himself on the ground that both BJP and Congress were corrupt parties.
The real reason, however, would have been the fear of losing credibility among public. The party would have lost credibility had it joined hands with either of the parties as the whole political campaign of AAP was based on slamming these two political parties on the account of corruption.
However, in doing so, Kejriwal forgot that the BJP was a clear favourite of the public in Delhi.
With Congress announcing unconditional support to Kejriwal and BJP promising issue-based support to AAP, the demands of a Kejriwal-led AAP government gained momentum. The social media, which was very aptly used by the AAP during its formative days and for the election campaign purpose too, was now full of such demands.
The situation acquired such a bigger space that it forced Kejriwal to throw in a bigger meat to take advantage of the situation.
He met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and asked for 10 days to think over the situation. Now, when Kejriwal was clear on not forming a government, why did he seek time? He could have said a plain and straight ‘no’ to the Governor like his counterpart BJP’s Dr Harsh Vardhan.
But Kejriwal, instead, chose to increase the drama and wrote a letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and BJP president Rajnath Singh putting forth 18 demands for forming a coalition with them.
The demands were way too idealistic to be considered practical. But it was a way for Kejriwal stepping into the safe zone from where he would have the reigns in his hands once again. By writing a letter, he wanted to show the people that he was the noblest and wanted to make an ideal society a reality which they dream of. But in reality, they are just 18 ways of escaping the reality and evading responsibility.
In case BJP and Congress reject his demands, he will get more masala to counter them and tell people that ‘look, these parties do not think about betterment of the society’. And in other case, in which either of them concedes, he will be able to save his parties credibility and form the government with the help of, in his words, a corrupt party.
While in doing so, Kejriwal is forgetting that the fate of Delhi is hanging due to his uninterrupted arrogance and charade. It has been more than a week since the election results came out and there is no government in Delhi. The four other states which went to election along with Delhi have now their chief ministers sworn in and working in the office. But Delhi remains without a leader.
The ‘yes-no’ stand and the charade that Kejriwal has thrown has seen the spurts of over-ambition in between. He is forcing another election on the people of Delhi thinking that he will win a majority. But he must not forget that the elections will fall around the time of general elections, which is May next year. The six months in between can change his party’s fate.
For starters, the problems and misunderstandings that AAP falls in seems not to be ending. First the party was in news for the use of abusive language by its guest during its campaign days. Then the youngest MLA elected from AAP, Raju Dhingan was charged with assault case. Response of AAP in both the cases was lame.
In first case, AAP leaders said that both of its guests – who used abusive language – were ‘youth icons’ in their own capacity and youth liked them for the kind of language they used. In second case, Kejriwal told media that the MLA “abhi bachcha hai, wo patakhe chhod raha tha, humne mana kar diya ab nahi karega” (He is a kid, he was firing crackers, I have asked him not to do it).
Hello! Mr Kejriwal! He may be the youngest elected MLA, but he is not a kid!
Second thing which may be Kejriwal and AAP’s undoing is the rift with his mentor Anna Hazare. The whole country is watching his relations going sour with Anna. When Anna accused Kejriwal and his party of misusing his name and funds of India against corruption, Kejrial did not clearly denied any of the charge even once. Instead along with his other party leaders, Kejriwal went on claiming that Anna was being mislead by few men of other political parties. He also claimed that Anna was a part and parcel of their life as he was Kejriwal’s mentor.
The recent spat where Anna asked senior AAP leader Sunil Rai to leave Ralegan Siddhi, following his intervention in Team Anna member VK Singh’s speech, is another indication that Kejriwal and his party is only forcing itself on Anna to show people that they are still associated with him. Afterall, what could have been a possible reason to visit the fast venue despite Anna’s stern warning of not joining him?
At a time when Anna has agreed with the draft of Janlokpal Bill and has given a go ahead to the political parties for passing it in the parliament, Kejriwal is busy showing his unhappiness over it. His statement that “Anna is being mislead” and that “Lokpal is a ‘jokepal'” only amounts to shouting in desperation of being cast aside from the issue. This will harm AAP and throw him in a bad light.
The third and perhaps an important reason for AAP bracing the reality sooner the better should be the timing of the re-elections as mentioned earlier. BJP was almost negligent in presence in Delhi. It was still unclear about its chief ministerial candidate. Vijay Goel, a senior leader and aspirant, was sulking over various issues. But its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s visit delivered it the result within two weeks.
The Modi wave that hit Delhi would have been converted to a Tsunami at the time of general elections. And it is pretty much clear that the people who prefer Kejriwal for his ‘clean government’ jibe prefer Modi when it comes to national interest. Given that, BJP will be in a better position to win than AAP.
So now will be the time when Kejriwal leaves all the drama and braces the reality.
