Headlines
Is one going to see a more mature and pragmatic Kejriwal?
The first fallout of the Aam
Admi Party's (AAP) spectacular victory in Delhi will be a renewed focus
on sleaze in public life, as has been borne out by Arvind Kejriwal's
commitment to make Delhi India's first corruption-free state in his
inaugural address after being sworn in as chief minister for a second
time.
This was the issue which was the mainstay of Anna Hazare's
anti-corruption movement of which the present-day AAP was a part and
which built up Kejriwal's reputation as a crusader against bribery and
underhand deals.
Since this image is behind his political
success, he is bound to buttress it by carrying on the campaign.
Kejriwal must be aware that his successes in the winter of 2013-14 and
again this year have been the result of the belief among the 'aam admi'
(common people) that only he in the political establishment has the
courage of conviction to nail the guilty.
Moreover, this belief
is based on the real-life experience of ordinary people of the decline
in petty acts of corruption like the police collecting 'haftas' (bribes)
from street vendors, traders and others in Delhi when Kejriwal was the
the chief minister for 49 days. His castigation of the corporate bigwigs
with a touch of insolence also impressed the people as it showed that
the AAP is not dependent on covert funding by businessmen.
That
he is not willing to let sleeping dogs lie is evident again from his
raising the demand for full statehood for Delhi. It is also obvious that
he is going to return to his earlier theme of providing free water up
to 20,000 litres and lowering the power tariff, the main planks of his
party's campaign.
There is little doubt that all of this will
earn him plaudits from what has come to be known as the underclass. But
whether such populism is economically viable is something which the AAP
has to figure out.
It may be necessary to recall the fate of the
Congress in the wake of its indulgence in reckless populism - subsidized
food, virtual doles for rural labourers who built nothing substantial,
no examinations for students till Class 8 which has led to a precipitous
drop in learning standards.
What that experiment showed was that
the people were not interested in freebies so much as in a thriving
economy which provided jobs. Considering that capitalism has won the
battle against socialism with the buoyant private sector becoming the
engine of growth at the expense of the moribund public sector, Kejriwal
will be making a mistake if he targets the business community in matters
of, say, electricity charges.
In fact, in his inaugural address,
he reached out to traders and told them to honestly pay their taxes, as
the government needs revenue to run, and assured them of a
harassment-free tax and regulation regime.
To avoid such
pitfalls, the new ruling party's first objective will have to be to
ascertain what can be achieved without overturning the apple cart. It
need not be afraid that its decision to hasten slowly will be
interpreted as temporizing. The average voter is perceptive enough to
understand the AAP's circumspection.
It is also possible that
once the AAP demonstrates that it intends to reform the system and; not
uproot it, other parties will join it in its efforts, even if
reluctantly. The business class may also respond by being more
transparent and less profit-minded. It will be aided in this exercise by
the fact that the corporate houses will not have to make
under-the-table payments to politicians - at least not as much as
before.
From this aspect of cooperation with others in the
political field, the AAP has a great opportunity to translate into
reality the dream of reformers of transforming the system. The party's
asset of huge popularity cannot but compel the other parties and the
corporate sector to accede to its game plan. One can only hope that the
AAP will not throw it all away by its intemperance and
self-righteousness.
However, the possibility that Delhi, and the
country, will see a new Kejriwal has been raised by his message to his
party men to eschew arrogance, which he said had caused the downfall of
both the Congress and the BJP, and his transcending party rivalries to
reach out, if necessary, to the BJP and the Congress for consultations.
This is a far cry from his earlier 'sab chor hai' (everyone is a thief)
attitude which placed the AAP in an exalted category. Evidently, the
chief minister has taken to heart the lessons of his earlier short-lived
stint in office.
(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at [email protected])