There is a lot of energy right now around Aam Aadmi Party. Political atmosphere is largely chaotic. If Delhi State Assembly Elections had not brought the results they did, then Political Atmosphere in India would have been a lot more stable, predictable and in the direction of Optimism.
Today, people & political analysts
are still trying too hard to make sense. The country is divided in two over
views on AAP. Those in favor and those against it. That is a very natural thing
as well.
AAP’s considerable newness does make
people uncomfortable, not only with its presence, but also the support it has
received. That is natural too.
Amongst those opposed to AAP, again
there are two groups. One who take it seriously, amongst whom some are quite
baffled by them, and then those who rubbish them, even today write them off and
look forward to a completely different result in General Elections.
Media’s undue and extremely favorable
coverage has done little to throw light on this AAP Phenomena. From the point
of view of volunteered political bias towards AAP, media has done a fine job,
but from the point of expected neutrality from media houses, whose very reason
for existence is to show light on the dark alleys of Indian Public Life, Media
has done a pathetic job.
As a matter of fact, Media’s conduct
in post independent India has been a mixed bag, with more undesirable conduct
than the desirable one and there is every reason to take away their Right to
Operate under a Fundamental Right that actually belongs to Citizens of the
Country and has been loaned to Press for the purpose of expressing Collective
Voice of the Nation and sharing with the nation the information about the
Public Affairs of the Country in an unbiased manner. Press Commission’s 1952
Report will shed more light on this expectation.
In such a Scenario, it only makes
sense to share a personal view about this AAP Phenomena. My views are not only
aimed at shedding some light but also at directing some sunlight on AAP. After
all, Sunlight is considered a great disinfectant.
The Rot within the Country – The Infection
In 2004, when BJP scored badly in
General Elections, due to multiple reasons, Congress took charge. What is now
known as UPA 1, was Congress’ led Coalition Govt that ran the show between
2004-2009.
In 2007 & 2008, NP Durga of TDP,
SS Ahluwalia of BJP, RC Singh of CPI questioned Govt on 2G Spectrum Sale.
After the Election in 2009, BJP tried
to raise the matter of 2G Scam. On 23rd July 2009, Ganga Charan of
BSP, Dr. V Maitreyan of AIADMK, Chandan Mitra, Rajiv Chandrashekhar & Arun
Jaitley from BJP raised the issue of 2G Spectrum Scam.
In 2010, a conflict over business
interest between Suresh Kalmadi & Times of India Group, led to disclosures
on Scam in Commonwealth Games. Since, a media house was itself an adversely
affected party, due coverage was given to the CWG Scam. Soon the CAG reported
Rs.70,000cr Corruption in these games.
Thereafter, CAG brought out one scam
after another – 2G Scam at Rs.1.76 Lakh Crore, Coal Scam at over Rs.10 Lakh
Crore, Air India Scam, K-G Basin Scam, so on and so forth.
In 2010 itself, on the issue of Price
Rise & Corruption, under Nitin Gadkari’s President-ship, BJP opened fronts
against the Govt in the Parliament. With a compliant Speaker in Loksabha and
compliant Chairman in Rajyasabha, BJP could make little headway in the
Parliament. Eventually, BJP was left with only one option to mark its protest
and attract the attention of the Nation to failure of Govt machinery, Price
Rise & staggering size of Corruption.
The protest started to spill out.
Nitin Gadkari led roadshows in various parts of India. BJP started putting
details of Scams one after the other in the public domain. During this period,
apart from roadshows attended by 1000s of people in every city, BJP released booklets that carried details of various scams uncovered by then.
In the meanwhile, BJP also released
the 2nd Report of the Taskforce on Blackmoney stashed in Swiss Banks, prepared by a formidable team of S Gurumurthi, Ajit Doval, Prof R
Vaidyanathan & Mahesh Jethmalani.
The entire country felt the Rot in
Governance in India. On one side, Inflation was eating up savings and making
life unaffordable, Govt’s taxation policy was adding to public’s pocket from
one side and extracting double from the other side, petrol prices were
continuously peaking up (more on surcharges rather than price of Petrol), on
the other, the news of mega-corruption in 2G Spectrum sale, CWG, S-Band (Rs.2
Lakh Crore) etc. and Govt’s refusal to act on offer of cooperation from Germany
etc on tracking Corruption Money stashed in Swiss Banks was totally
demoralizing the Country.
Demoralization of a country is a very
big thing. It means there is a huge trust deficit between the Citizens of the
Country and the Govt of the Day. It is a sign of extreme weakness in the
Country and creates a fertile ground for enemies of the Nation to act against
such a country’s National Interest.
During this period, Dr. Subramanian
Swamy took the matter of 2G Spectrum to the Court and the high-profile arrests
that followed attracted media’s entire attention to the goings-on in 2G Scam.
Public memory being short, BJP’s struggle against Price Rise & Corruption
were soon forgotten and an impression was created that BJP played the role of a
Weak Opposition.
The fact however was that when blocked
in the Parliament from raising its voice, BJP refused to give in and brought
the attention of the nation to the matters of Corruption through jamming of
Parliament Sessions. That was the only way BJP could get “some” attention from
media on these issues.
Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi led Public
Account’s Committee and faced severe opposition going to the extent of alleged
man-handling by Manish Tewary and his ilk, when Dr. Joshi refused to give-in
and made the submission of a damning Report on 2G Spectrum Scam & Recommendations, at grave
personal risk.
Public also forgot about BJP’s
hardwork because a feeling of victory was setting in, on account of
high-profile arrests in 2G Spectrum Scam case, as well as later, in CWG Case.
So, while BJP did everything to bring people’s attention, it was seen weak on
account of getting such high-profile arrests made. This was a very natural
reaction.
Over the years, all these high profile
arrests resulted into nothing. All those arrested under preventive custody have
been released and live a fairly peaceful life.
Birth of Diversion, the Vehicle for Worms – Lokpal Bill
Anyway, public was agitated, arrests
were happening, Congress & its corrupt allies were under severe attack.
Congress tried various tricks from its Century & a Quarter old book to quell
this anger. Aruna Roy, in NAC, proposed an Old proposed-law that proposed an
office of Ombudsman to look into cases of corruption. Since its conception in
1963, recommendation by 1st Administrative Reforms Committee in 1966
and first introduction in 1968, Lokpal Bill, in its various avatars had failed
to be enacted and ended up lapsing everytime with the end of tenure of Lok
Sabha. Its final and possibly the most powerful shape was given by BJP in its
2001 Draft. The Bill was however sent to Standing Committee and then met the
same fate of lapsing.
Lokpal Bill was a masterstroke. In one
single stroke, the Country bought the idea of a ram-baan ilaaj (one medicine
for all the illnesses). Public was tired of public scrutiny. Congress on the
other hand succeeded in getting public’s attention off the details that were
being poured into the upright CAG of the time, Shri. Vinod Rai.
As public started to miss out on
specific, detailed and gory details of corruption, the discussion around
corruption became more misdirected, vague and therefore, ineffective. What else
did Congress want?
So much so, that in spite of Lokayukta
Report on misuse of money by Sheila Dikshit Govt, in spite of Shunglu Committee
Report, in spite of CAG Report on CWG, Congress managed to set aside all
investigation in to CWG, along with the 2G Spectrum Scam investigation.
Public in turn was busy singing the
song for Office of Lokpal, conveniently forgetting that anti-corruption bureau,
CVC etc had all been brought in with similar fan-fare and ultimately, been so
dependent on the person in the Chair, that they were effectively rendered
ineffective. Compliant folks found way into such offices.
For e.g., while Pratyush Sinha was a
tough CVC who made some serious investigation into 2G Spectrum Scam during his
tenure, Congress tried to place a pliant Officer P J Thomas who was himself an
accused in an old Palm Oil Scam case, as the next CVC.
Public conveniently forgot that it was
all the way BJP’s Opposition to P J Thomas’ appointment as CVC, including
sharing details of his own corruption with Indian Public, that led to ouster of
that shameless man.
Wriggling worms take birth – Arvind Kejriwal
Arvind Kejriwal, an ex-IRS Officer,
who has a psychological disorder that disallows him from focusing and
concluding on any single task that he undertakes, took leave from Income-Tax
Dept, seemingly to campaign for RTI. Harsh Mander & Aruna Roy were his
mentor.
The urgency for RTI cannot be
understood. But yes, before he participated in RTI, he does seem to have
received some favor from Sonia Gandhi. This was about staying within Delhi NCR
Circle of Income-Tax Dept.
The urgency for RTI is difficult to
understand because a Law called Freedom of Information Act, 2002, enacted by
BJP already existed and under this notification for Voluntary Disclosure of
Information were already in place with various Ministries & Depts. Of
course, Sonia Gandhi wanted to steal credit for Ground Breaking Laws, to hide
her own incompetence and this she did through her fiefdom called NAC.
Kejriwal never went back to Income Tax
Dept, after his leave got over. Not only did Kejriwal start an NGO, which he
was barred to do as per Rules for Govt employees, and raised money, reportedy
& allegedly amounting to Rs. 2cr through contacts of one of his mentors
Harsh Mander, but also now he was refusing to report to work while still
drawing salary. Clearly a sign of the Psychological Disorder of an otherwise
sharp mind, which had now found fun & challenge in Social Activism.
Repeal fo Freedom of Information Act
& Replacement of its near carbon-copy RTI Act was handled almost
single-handedly by Kejriwal’s other mentor Aruna Roy. All of them were part of
another NGO called NCPRI. Aruna was in NAC.
So, when the time came for diverting
public’s attention from specific details of individual corruption cases, so
that no pressure was felt for prosecution of corrupt ministers of Congress
& its Allies, Aruna Roy naturally, considered using Kejriwal.
Details are unavailable, sketchy and
therefore not worth going into, but Kejriwal & Aruna Roy seemingly fell out
over details of the Draft of Lokpal. At least so they say. How far all these
gossips are true is immaterial. That is a scenery.
The detail is, that Lokpal was the center
of attraction, details of specific corruption cases put into public domain,
follow-up on prosecution of individual corruption cases, was now history.
Nobody knew what was follow-up on 2G Spectrum Scam, in Courts. Nobody bothered
about Kalmadi in Jail over CWG. Everyone looked for one-stop shop of Lokpal.
Avatar 1 – India Against Corruption
Kejriwal’s psychological disorder also
makes him destructive, parasitic & therefore, predatorial. He nearly
ignores what he possesses without losing the possessiveness, gets obsessed with
what he doesn’t have, uses his determination, sharp mind to bring along people
who’ll not over power him but fit well within his larger scheme and once their
utility is over, as far as his personal scheme is concerned, and then looks for
next person.
Kejriwal, reportedly, approached many
people. Many refused to be co-opted but sympathized with the cause he espoused.
Afterall, almost everyone was fed-up with Corruption. The alarming scale it had
assumed, pinched even the most willing businessmen.
Then, he managed to get the sympathies
and full cooperation of Baba Ramdev, who was then scheming his own political
initiative, Bharat Swabhimaan.
At a function organized by Baba Ramdev
in Feb 2010, Kejriwal, an unknown figure spoke passionately against corruption,
spoke passionately in favor of Maoism and invited people to join him and Anna
Hazare at Jantar Mantar. Few people knew Anna Hazare outside Maharashtra, but
everyone knew Corruption. And public was willing to join anything that looked
even remotely designed to fight corruption.
As the crowd poured in at Jantar
Mantar, India Against Corruption took birth, and bid bye-bye to Baba Ramdev.
RSS, however, in its usual unsung
style backed this anti-corruption crusade. Kejriwal waved Jan Lokpal Bill draft
at folks. As I went through details, I laughed at them because there was no way
his draft was making sense and was clearly non-compliant with the
Constitutional Requirements.
Where there is crowd, there is media
and entertainers. All kinds of people, who didn’t need education on Corruption,
were already fed-up and were looking to back anything that gave illusion of
fighting corruption, joined IAC at Jantar Mantar. But no seasoned
anti-Corruption Crusader ever joined IAC.
Anyone who has ever fought corruption
could immediately see that the methods suggested by Kejriwal will never end
corruption. Corruption is bred through faulty processes in Administration. They
are born out of loopholes in laws, in procedures etc. I distinctly remember
requesting some of my affected friends to ask Kejriwal & IAC Members to
invite other established anti-Corruption Crusaders to their Team and the
current team looked short on knowledge and Old Champions will get a strong platform
which Kejriwal had received from active participation of People.
But then where did Kejriwal require
people better than him and more dedicated to Corruption? That was never the
idea anyway.
Distrubances within the Country,
agitations and revolutions outside the Country, especially Tehrir Square, Egypt
tc were giving romantic ideas about
revolutions to Youth. That is all that Kejriwal was interested in. That is all
that was necessary to keep people talking of Corruption, which was on their
mind, and yet never get a single case prosecuted.
Avatar 2 – Team Anna
Baba Ramdev was gone. Anna Hazare was
the new Gandhi, or Jayaprakash Narayan. They equated it with new Emergency
Days. Third wave of Nation Freedom.
Parliamentary System was ridiculed.
Public was motivated against Democratic institutions by giving an impression
that 120bn people will rule themselves. Political Leaders, who had little
credibility anyway, were ridiculed liberally. No distinction was made between
good leaders and bad ones. All were painted with same brush.
Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan,
Justice Hegde & Kiran Bedi were other key members. Allegations of
Corruption and Audio Recordings of Discussions by Bhushan Family were
suppressed and ignored. Right on the very face of it, anti-Corruption Crusade
of Kejriwal was refusing to take cognizance of charges of corruption against
its own prominent Team Members.
While some of them participated in
Joint Deliberations on Draft of the Bill with the Govt, other held fort on
stage. A career IPS Officer like Kiran Bedi embarrassed herself and her more
decent admirers with shameful dramas and acts on the stage ridiculing even
those political leaders against whom there are no corruption charges and have
an extremely clean image.
Socially, battle-lines were drawn. If
you are not with Team Anna, you are with Corruption.
Large parts of crowd, food & water
to crowd etc were still managed by RSS members, on a voluntary basis, out of
goodwill for a seemingly noble cause.
Drama ended, with introduction of a
shoddy copy of Lokpal Draft prepared by Govt. BJP backed many provisions of Jan
Lokpal Draft that could stand scrutiny of Constitutional Benches. They were
easy for BJP also because they were part of BJP’s own 2001 Draft.
BJP got the shock, when in spite of
overwhelming support given to Kejriwal’s Team Anna, at the end of the
agitation, Kejriwal refused to thank BJP and warmly hugged Sandeep Dikshit,
right on the stage, in the middle of all the media attention. That stab from
Kejriwal may have been extremely painful for BJP. It disenchanted many
rightwingers. The Predator had again found the Prey…
Avatar 3 – Aam Aadmi Party
Right after a very successful
agitation under Team Anna, during media interviews, on practically no
provocation, Kejriwal disowned Kiran Bedi, who appeared closer to Anna Hazare.
Soon thereafter, Kejriwal “revealed”
his plans to float Political Party. This was against Anna Hazare’s repeated
advice since April 2011. Political Parties were strictly advised to stay away
from the stage of either India Against Corruption & Team Anna. Kejriwal
knew the old man won’t agree. Nor did he care for that. His problem was, Anna
Hazare had considerably large goodwill.
Anna Hazare’s goodwill has been so
much that even his most bitter critics and enemies speak respectfully to him,
even though he may have spewed venom against them publicly sometime back. No
political leader was harsh to him. He was Anna ji to them all. Kejriwal was too
small an insect then. Dismissing Anna Hazare, to run his Political Outfit,
would have meant a serious wrath too early in his career.
Kejriwal kept is graceful with Anna
Hazare. Never letting him know how he despises him. Old man is shrewd himself.
Going out of line against his instructions is enough for him to know how much
someone respects him. But without necessary provocation, Anna Hazare would have
caused his own goodwill some unnecessary injury. Both remained graceful to each
other, agreeing to disagree with each other.
Predator had now thrown out Justice
Hegde, Kiran Bedi & Anna Hazare out of his camp.
Aam Aadmi Party – Worm gives Freebie
Aam Aadmi Party was launched.
Kejriwal, who is a Crorepati, lives in a 4 Bedroom House, has plots of land at
various places, owns 2300sft flat in Gurgaon, managed a carefully cultivated
look. He seemed to have taken tuitions on this from nothing less than Laloo
Prasad Yadav.
Possibly Kejriwal should wear size 39
Shirt, but he would Wear Size 44 shirt. He can afford, good shoes etc. but he
would wear worn out chappals. Giving impression to common people that he is one
amongst them and believes in Simple Living & High Thinking.
You might think he fought his
elections on an anti-Corruption Platform. Nothing is farther from Truth.
Kerjiwal & his Aam Aadmi Party,
fought the elections on Populist Demands and not anti-Corruption Platform. Yes,
he did link each of his Populist Promise with economic possibility of those
promises because everyone else apart from him, is Corrupt. Using crass language
against Political Leaders, he promised action against Sheila Dikshit, if he was
brought to power.
He supported unauthorized colonies,
encroachments. He supported unauthorized Electricity connections. Backed
non-payment of Electricity Bills, illegal reconnections of Electricity
connections of people who lost connection due to non-payment of Bills.
As elections approached, Kejriwal made
one unrealistic, populist policy after another. People of Delhi lapped it. No
political party thought that public would do this. Certainly not the Right
wing. They forgot that Freebies like 700 ltr free-water, 50% reduction in
Electricity is AAP’s version of Liquor, Egg-Biryani & Cash Payouts. This
was White-Collared execution of Blue-Collared Political Ideas to Voters.
Yogendra Yadav was co-opted. With that
attention of media was co-opted again. Pre-poll Surveys appeared. Doctored
surveys played on another known weakness of Indian Voters. Speculation and
betting on a Winning Horse. Everything possible was done to create a perception
that AAP has a winning chance.
During this entire period, allegations
of corruption against many AAP members kept surfacing. Anjali Damania, Mayank
Gandhi, Sting videos on Kumar Vishwas and others and what not. AAP never
subjected even one member to Law & Order of the Land. Everyone was
exonerated after a jokeful Internal Lokpal Inquiry.
After elections, even though BJP was
the single largest party, the political alliance between Congress & AAP
looked imminent. Had to be. And finally it did become a truth.
Kejriwal was salivating. He got what
he didn’t think was possible even remotely, irrespective of his statements of
bravado. But he had postured strongly against Congress in public, to get
public’s favor for his own Party. Public’s real anger was directed at Congress,
who they saw was mainly responsible for Corruption & Price Rise.
Kejriwal threw up his last drama of
Referendum, wasted time from December 8, 2013, when results were announced, to
December 21-22nd, 2013, or so. As an icing on cake, Kejriwal
travelled by Delhi Metro to his Oath-taking Ceremony Extravaganza.
Finally, Kejriwal shook the Indian
Politics and all the speculation for General Elections 2014.
What is Kejriwal upto now?
Kerjiwal is least interested in either
Delhi State Govt or Delhi Lok Sabha Elections. He has conquered Delhi already.
He is already bored with his victory. His psychological disorder has taken him
to a new pursuit - General Elections.
Kerjiwal had nothing to offer on
Free-Water and 50% Cheaper Electricity promise. The prices of Water &
Electricity were not due to any Corruption of Politicians. Kejriwal could beat
nothing in the System. Since he could make no Economic Sense, he loaded Delhi
State Govt with an additional Rs.960 cr Subsidy.
The most interesting part is,
Free-Water will reach 8.5 Lakh Families only out of nearly 30 Lakh Families in
Delhi, all well-to-do.
Electricity too is poised to benefit
the rich.
Who will face the brunt of these bad
economic policies of Kejriwal? Delhiites. But what will media project and
therefore create a Positive Perception, will, expectedly, bring votes to
Kejriwal in other non-Delhi areas. What does Kejriwal lose? 7 Lok Sabha Seats.
Two days back, Kejriwal decided to
allot himself a 10 Bedroom twin-bungalow unit. Public scrutiny, bad public
perception, made him retrace his steps. Till a day back, Kejriwal was
personally justifying his decision, but his friends in media portrayed
retracing of this decision as Kejriwal’s “refusal” to occupy the Plush Bungalow
in Lutyen’s Delhi.
Now you imagine the extent of
co-operation and perception management targeted on General Elections.
Has this story been repeated in the past?
Yes. In 1876, under Lord Lytton, India
had similarly bad economy. Peasants and workers were planning to rise against
British Raj. In 1883, after retirement, a loyal British Civil Servant Allan
Octavian Hume, invited people to join Indian National Congress, to protect the
British Raj in India. Loyalty to British Monarch was the most important pledge
for the members of Indian National Congress then.
In 2010-11, under Sonia Gandhi aka
Antonia Maino, India again has a horribly bad economy & corruption. Common Man
was agitated enough to rise against Congress-raj. A retired Civil Servant
Arvind Kejriwal, attracted & invited people to join Aam Aadmi Party, to
protect Congress-raj in India.
So loyal is Kejriwal, that he even
played a similar “sacrifice drama” as did Sonia Gandhi in 2004 and many times
earlier & later. And now, like his Idol, Kejriwal is planning an
extra-constitutional Body of Unaccountable Advisors. A body on the lines of
National Advisory Council.
How should we look at Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party?
We should always remember. Corruption
and Bad Economy are Infections that a Country suffers. Infections breed Worms
& Germs. Kejriwal & Aam Aadmi Party are those Worms & Germs. What
do Worms & Germs do? They grow initially, in that conducive, infected
atmosphere, worsen situation further. That is exactly what Kejriwal and Aam
Aadmi Party are doing.
Kejriwal & Aam Aadmi Party have
made a push for Economic Policy that we left behind in 1991. i.e. Policy of
Subsidies. They offer no fresh, meaningful, productive idea. They have none,
can offer none. They have Zero Experience of Governance. They stand to lose
nothing. Only India stands to lose because of such Worms & Germs.
Do Worms & Germs go away from an
infected body on their own? No, never. Untreated, they’ll flourish. Ultimately,
they kill the body. Doctor’s prescribe antibiotics. Unless patient takes
antibiotics and shows the willingness to cure himself, none can save.
It is same with Kejriwal & Aam
Aadmi Party. We have to take pro-active steps. We have to take initiatives that
act as antibiotic. We have to throw Sun-light, because there is no disinfectant
like Sun-Light.
