Kejriwal cult is in

History has a funny way of repeating itself as we have seen this week. Like M C Chagla, an outstanding jurist, who made a mess of himself as Indira Gandhi’s foreign minister during Reita Faria (first Miss India) saga in 1966, Rajnath Singh, the Union Minister of the day, has exposed himself to ridicule in the Nirbhaya saga that has come upfront once again thanks to Leslee Udwin’s documentary titled “India’s Daughter” for the BBC.

And what Indira Gandhi did for the Congress in the sixties is what Arvind Kejriwal is doing in the Aam Aadmi Party today; like her, he is determined to snuff out dissent. He is just waiting for his very own Dev Kant Baruah, to tell the aam aadmi that “AAP is Kejriwal and Kejriwal is AAP”.

Old timers may recall that Chagla had delivered homilies to Reita on how a Bharatiya Nari could not entertain American soldiers embroiled in a bitter war in Vietnam even if the ‘show was part of her contract.’ She snubbed him and went ahead with the assignment. Now Rajnath, who is a Hindutva-centric Swayam Sevak by training and temperament, has done one up on Chagla. He is gunning for the BBC which has ignored his diktat against screening the documentary; he is asking the foreign office to flex its muscles. Politicians love to miss the woods for the trees. For them what matters is a headline which comes from hype and more hype.

A classic example of the phenomenon, where hype rather than substance matters, is the Aam Aadmi Party, the new kid on the block. It has just purged Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan and the duo along with Kejriwal have washed much dirty linen in full public view. The exercise has served one clear purpose, though. No longer there will be a need for a discussion on who calls the shots in the AAP.

For a long while, in fact right from Day One, Arvind Kejriwal has positioned himself as the first among equals but allowed some modicum of inner democracy. After the purge, it is curtains down on Glasnost, no room for anyone who disagrees with him, much less asks uncomfortable questions about accountability et al. Soon the AAP will become a mainstream party with all the attendant high command culture. The much-hyped new era in Indian politics we are expected to witness is set to be a mirage than a possibility.

AAP is not a homogenous political grouping. Well, it cannot be since it is the off-shoot of an agitation that had attracted Swyam Sevaks to Marxists and ‘anarchists’ to rally on the anti-corruption plank of Anna Hazare, the messiah from Ralegaon Siddhi, a small sleepy village in Western Maharashtra. It is not easy to put in place a structured party. Even after a century plus existence, the Congress is happy to be the banyan tree that gives shelter to everyone. From what is in full public view, Kejriwal is not cut out for the job of institution builder. Even if he is, it is a tough task for him since the amalgamation he is presiding over comprises people who are his equals in matters of ego.

After becoming the Delhi Chief Minister for the second time, Kejriwal has done another act of ‘running away’. Yes, he did not resign but he did something that defies logic. He has not taken a single portfolio and has thus become the first Chief Minister without portfolio in Independent India. Is this an act of sacrifice? He may like to project it as such but in a cabinet form of government, the buck stops with the head of the government. If Kejriwal was really serious of portfolio sacrifice, he could have emulated the example of Balasaheb Thackeray. The cartoonist-turned-politician shunned public office when Shiv Sena was in the driver’s seat of Mumbai Sachivalaya but retained the ‘key’ with himself.

So, the latest shenanigan of Kejriwal camp pump primes the verdict – its miraculous resurrection is no guarantee that the party is not hurtling towards self-destruction. AAP is going to be no different from the oldies.

Put plainly, what is on show in AAP these days is a variation of the Jayalalithaa act, and the way one-man parties like SP, RJD and BSP are run. The Congress never hides its dynasty fixation. The BJP is fast shedding its image as a party with difference and is catching up with the rest in perpetuating personality cult.

There is also another flip-side to AAP. Kejriwal has attracted a large number of journalists to his fold; by temperament, the journos are soloists, though they are good at ideas and play to perfection the role of devil’s advocates.

Kejriwal and co have enjoyed constant media attention – both good and bad. Like for the run of the mill politicians, for the muffler man too headlines became elixir. It may be uncharitable to say that the formation of the party was hastened by the fear that if the media attention was taken off, the party would be a non-starter. Sadly turn of events shows that this criticism has some validity.

At the moment, Kejriwal is in the hands of naturopaths in Bangalore. This is no more than medical leave and we are told that he would be away from Delhi for full ten days to get treatment for his asthma and blood sugar problems. There is nothing wrong per se in what he has done. Health is important for anyone, more so for ‘netaji’. If health is, indeed, an issue with him, the right course, some may say the honest course for that matter, would have been not taking up the CM’s post. He could have declined the post or handed over the reins to a Regent till he is rejuvenated. He did neither. After Nitish Kumar’s missed heart beats in Patna, no party supremo in India will dare have a tryst with Jitan Ram Manjhis of the day. Well, that is beside the point, anyhow.

By: Malladi Rama Rao