Contrite Kejriwal Must Go Back to the People
Greek philosopher and historian Herodotus writes about pharaoh Apries, who ascended Egypt’s throne in February 589 BC. He lost two wars: against Nebuchadnezzar II to protect Jerusalem and against King Cyrene in 570 BC. His soldiers rose in rebellion and Apries fled to another country to rally for a comeback. He was trounced in battle. Anyone who reads Herodotus today will realise the historical parallel with a recently fallen king: Arvind Kejriwal. Obliterated in the Delhi elections, he is doing what Apries did: flee to another region to regroup. If sources are to be trusted, Delhi’s erstwhile despot is trying to bully his way to become chief minister of Punjab, the sole state where his party is still in power.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann is in no mood to oblige. AAP swept Punjab because Rahul Gandhi demoralised the Congress, the Badals were hated for massive public loot and the BJP is as powerful as a blade of grass in the wind. AAP parachuted into Punjab with a record of revdis such as free electricity and water, along with its anti-corruption rep. Anna Hazare’s popular movement in 2011 was against Congress corruption and women’s safety issues after the Nirbhaya horror.
Kejriwal, who had hijacked his mentor Hazare’s pitch, became a mass leader overnight by sleeping on the street to protest the Central government, eating bread pakoras, coughing a lot and singing Hindi songs at Ramlila Maidan. The AAP movement attracted volunteers internationally, who left dollar jobs to join AAP. The middle class loved Kejriwal. The poor identified with his muffler. Sheila Dikshit was voted off the CM’s chair in spite of making Delhi Great for 15 years. Kejriwal became the commoner’s commoner overlord.
The oldest trap in politics is the lure of big money. Power disrupts; absolute power disrupts absolutely. Kejriwal disrupted his own ideology to adopt the oldest political template: the template of pomp. I need money to run a party, don’t I? I’m the leader, so I need a bigger house, a larger TV, marble floors and fancy curtains, swimming pool; for what is an infallible ruler without pride and panoply? He made deals with businessmen.
He launched personal attacks on Prime Minister Modi. He refused to resign after he was jailed in the liquor scam. Friends and colleagues who believed he was a democrat at heart dropped out. Left was a bunch of sycophants who thought, at least in public, that their boss walked on water. Kejriwal is not a man who understands the nuances of negotiation—giving an inch to take a foot. It is his way or the highway.
Now, his way seems to be the highway to Punjab. At the risk of toppling the government—one cannot rule out a Maharashtra model with Mann as Punjab’s Shinde—Kejriwal could sabotage himself. Having tasted power, he cannot do without it. Public life is ruled by fickle gods. Punjab has a divine law to bring to earth leaders possessed by hubris: kar seva. No task is too low for the penitent—even powerful ministers polish shoes and wash utensils at the gurudwara.
People are the gurus who teach proud leaders a lesson. The humbled AAP sovereign could go to the public as he did a decade ago to convince them that he hasn’t lost his essential heart and is not just a despot with a saviour complex. The resurrection of popular Kejriwal means the obliteration of arrogant Kejriwal. No pain, no gain, and certainly not vain.