In no mood to keep promises

Castles of sand do not have long life. The people of Delhi gave AAP a second chance in the hope that its politicians would understand the bread-and-butter issues. Kejriwal has to shed his protest mode and get down to governance. In Kejriwal-run Delhi, the unmistakable impression is that the new regime seizes controversial issues. It agitates on them, giving many day-to-day governance issues a go-by

Audiences are thinning at mohalla meetings. Reports are that the flow of donations from citizens who voted for a dream called governance is tapering off. The public is getting disenchanted. One realises that as one sifts genuine grievances from “politically motivated” campaign by opponents.

The media that played a significant role in building the dream and in its messenger called Arvind Kejriwal is under constant attack, accused of taking the cue from opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress and whoever is critical of Aam Aadmi Pary (AAP). The ugly fracas of AAP workers accusing “Kejriwal and Co.” of dictatorship and coterie rule before quitting is a different matter. The expulsion from the party’s top decision-making body of important founder members has raised a stink.

What is visibly absent is governance. The brute majority Delhi Assembly is not helping the citizens perceive that the AAP is governing Delhi. As the government completes five months – admittedly a short time – the AAP leadership remains in agitational and electoral modes. Despite many decisions taken, the governance mode is yet to take a coherent shape. When he arrived on the chaotic Delhi scene as an anti-corruption messiah under Anna Hazare, Kejriwal’s irreverent talk (“all politicians are corrupt”, “criminals in parliament”) captured the imagination of many. His all-in agenda found many takers across the country.

In the atmosphere of anger and despondency, a few foresaw that it was, and remains, unreal and unrealisable. As the CM now, he has made promises beyond the capacity of any administration to implement within the timeframe set for it. Kejriwal’s case is one of a non-government organization (NGO) at work in government. Most NGOs operate in a single field and on specific issues. Its leaders suffer from a complex, even self-righteous belief that they know everything under the sun. They never admit to limitation of their understanding outside their field of work.

During UPA-1, many NGO leaders – all well-meaning – were part of the national advisory body headed by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. With her at the helm, the Manmohan Singh government was tasked to carry out several programmes aimed at eliminating poverty. Billions were spent and some uplift did take place. But the massive effort became directionless. It was no substitute to governance and to policy planning and its implementation.

In Kejriwal-run Delhi, the unmistakable impression is that the new regime seizes controversial issues. It agitates on them, giving many day-to-day governance issues a go-by. For one, it has failed to control prices of essential commodities. Besides the usual ‘adatiya’ (middleman) who controls the entry of essential perishables such fruits and vegetables into a metropolis, new intermediaries have come to determine the price line. A cartel controls these products on vast swathes of farm land in Uttar Pradesh, and manipulates the prices.

Kejriwal and his associates have given scant attention to price management. There are many day-to-day issues that require day-to-day and policy decisions, but they were not ‘sexy’ – they do not help AAP’s projection. But talk of who should control Delhi Police, or should a tiny Delhi state have its own education board, either junking, tweaking or duplicating Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) – and the AAP jumps in. The control of Delhi Police is a centuries-old issue. Kejriwal’s predecessor Sheila Dikshit wanted to control it, even during UPA-1 and UPA-2 that were her party’s governments.

The Kotwal of Delhi came into being during the days of Sultans and the Mughals inherited that system. The Kotwal was always loyal to the king, no matter what the army did. This system continued till the Great Rising of 1857. The modern-day policing in Delhi was introduced during the British Raj. Similarly, the seat of the Government of India and Parliament are governed, not by an elected body but by a nominated one, New Delhi Municipal Committee (NDMC).

This committee and the Delhi Police are designed to insulate from the political uncertainties. Dikshit, who confined to occasional fulminations and Kejriwal, who does it daily, know this background well. Delhi’s Law Minister allegedly has a fake law degree. Kejriwal has chosen to believe the Minister and not the university that says it has awarded no such degree to the minister. Kejriwal did what he did last year. He had defended the then Law Minister who had misbehaved with the police.

Kejriwal used what can be termed offensive language, claiming that the media had “taken out a supari” to finish off his party. Putting his threat into action is an order directing all Delhi government officials to lodge a complaint with the Principal Secretary (Home) if they come across any news item that damages the reputation of the Chief Minister or the government, so that further action can be taken.

The AAP had succeeded in creating negative perceptions about the Dikshit government, as also the UPA-2 government. It is gradually becoming a victim of the same syndrome. Just about every issue gets controversial. Its response is to argue, to break norms and challenge the established authority.

If high drama and rhetoric characterised Kejriwal’s 49-day first stint in government, the second is not turning out very different. His government seems to be lurching from one controversy to another. One of them is a spat with Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, whose directive to route important files through him has irked Kejriwal. The CM’s bypassing this order means a possible governance gridlock.

The suicide of Gajendra Singh, a farmer from Rajasthan who hanged himself before thousands of people gathered at an AAP rally, has exposed the cynical game played with the aim of controlling political damage. The AAP leaders mindlessly persisted with the rally, delivering speech after speech. When they realised their folly, they blamed the Delhi Police for not preventing the suicide.

Police inquiries reveal that Gajendra Singh was neither a poor farmer, nor one in distress. He was an AAP activist who had even contested the Lok Sabha polls from Dausa, losing it. Kejriwal was quick to apologise for having continued his speech after the suicide. Now, in a bizarre action, Singh is declared a martyr. Huge compensation from the public exchequer has been announced for his family.

Castles of sand do not have long life. The people of Delhi gave AAP a second chance in the hope that its politicians would understand the bread-and-butter issues. Kejriwal has to shed his protest mode and get down to governance. It may not get him the headlines in the much-reviled media, but it will at least vindicate to some extent the faith that people reposed in his party.