In the movie Zorro, so flamboyantly played by Antonio Banderas, the swashbuckling outlaw proclaims grandly, “I’m a man in search of a vision.” Arvind Kejriwal is one such Zorro, though the muffler is his mask. Sure, he is a man with a mission. But he is also a man without a vision. As a rotting political system crumbles in Punjab and Goa, Kejriwal is the man of the moment. But there is a strong possibility that the moment will pass. If not today, tomorrow.
Kejriwal is not tomorrow’s man either. He is day after tomorrow’s man. This is because he represents the cyclical paradigm of a fall, a rise and a resurrection. The Congress fell because of corruption, the AAP rose on its graveyard and Modi resurrected the BJP.
History has shown that maverick parties that do not have a thought system of their own don’t survive. After Independence, no personality-driven regional party has become a national giant. Kejriwal is trying to make AAP a national party, the way Owaisi did with MIM and failed. Parties and leaders survive because they are defined by a specific ideology. Modi is a Hindu nationalist favouring Right wing economics. Rahul Gandhi is a rural tourist, with a trendy seven o’clock shadow who loves sushi and sudden sabbaticals. Sitaram Kesri is a Communist, who has a specific political and social charter. Nitish Kumar is a communal welfarist. Mulayam Singh Yadav is a Lohiaite—a form of vernacular socialism. Leaders such as J Jayalalithaa, Chandrababu Naidu, Mamata Banerjee and K Chandrashekar Rao are powerful regional leaders with national relevance.
And Kejriwal?
Does the only political party in India which lacks an official flag have no ideology beyond protecting autorickshaw drivers and street vendors? Is its only agenda to find Modi’s ubiquitous hand in every calamity that befalls it? Is Kejriwal’s only imperial dream to bring Delhi Police under the state government? Its main plank is fighting corruption, yet most of its legislators are in some form of disgrace or the other. Kejriwal even doesn’t have permanent enemies or friends—only those who dare to question his diktats and others who slavishly follow his whims.
So what is the big picture?
Kejriwal and his party lack holistic relevance because they don’t stand for anything in particular. AAP pretends to be a national party with regional programmes. It makes promises it doesn’t even understand. The generic offer to rid the world of corruption is admirable, but Kejriwal has to understand that systems can be cleansed fundamentally only through governance.
The Delhi CM, however, doesn’t understand governance. The state administration dozes in the somnolent sunshine of approaching winter when the capital is at its mellowest best, like a fading émigré awaiting an inheritance, which has alas been squandered. Civic facilities in Delhi are on life support. The bureaucracy is hostile and frightened. People in Delhi even miss Sheila Dikshit.
The lack of a label was Kejriwal’s initial advantage. His was a clean slate. But in the hurry to chalk up more scores in more states, he is bound to lose the way. Ambition sans ideology is like a horse without a saddle. By riding bareback, Kejriwal may just end up unseating himself.
ravi shankar
ravi@newindianexpress.com