It is a shock to the political system, of course, this no bungalow, no salary, no security, no corruption, only the grace-of-the-people-kind of politics
So the common man’s party is all set to rule Delhi. Arvind Kejriwal has bowed to the wish of the people, and decided to climb into the hot seat. With no party having a clear majority in the Delhi elections, AAP can only form the government with the support of the Congress – which has been its principal foe in these elections. And interestingly enough, the Congress – the long-time ruler of Delhi that AAP has now dislodged – is happy to extend that support. It is the only way to keep out the BJP, which has done marginally better than AAP by way of seats won. After initially refusing to form the government, AAP sought the advice of the people – through votes via mobile text messages and voice votes in meetings across the city – and finally agreed to rule. Arvind Kejriwal, 45, will become Delhi’s seventh and youngest chief minister.
And Kejriwal does not want security. He does not want a big bungalow. He does not want VIP cars with flashing lights. He does not even want a big fat salary. Not for himself and not for any of his ministers. The MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party want to remain as ‘aam aadmi’ or ‘aam aurat’ even when they rule. So Kejriwal has turned down the Z-category security due to the chief minister. “I don’t need any security, I don’t need any escort or PSO,” said Kejriwal in his letter to the Delhi Police. “God is my biggest security. However, I would be grateful if some help is provided for crowd management or security at a few places where I get mobbed.”
And instead of grand official venues, the swearing-in will happen in the sprawling Ramlila Maidan on December 26. Anyone can come to it. This is the kind of space that Kejriwal and company are familiar with. And their followers are comfortable in. The Ramlila Maidan was where their anti-graft movement was born under the leadership of Anna Hazare, where it was nurtured by the tremendous support of the masses, where the idea of the Jan Lokpal had taken shape. The grounds where Gandhian fasts against corruption and for justice had forced the government into action. The grounds where every year the story of the victory of good over evil is acted out through the ‘Ramlila’, where Ram vanquishes Ravana; and thousands watch as the huge demon king with 10 heads and a belly full of straw and firecrackers goes up in a spectacular finale for Dussehra.
Historically, the Ramlila Maidan has been the blessed space, where leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel have addressed the people of India. Where Jayaprakash Narayan launched his legendary protest against Indira Gandhi’s government. It was the space where leaders like Jagjivan Ram, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Atal Bihari Vapayee and Chandra Shekhar came together to form the Janata Party. The new government of Delhi, a surprise government, a minority government, plans to stride into history in this hallowed grounds of protest and of revisioning India.
Love him or hate him, it has been impossible to ignore Arvind Kejriwal. He has dominated the Indian imagination for a couple of years now, making shocking accusations and disclosures, breaking the rules of polite politics, spearheading a mass movement for political change with dramatic revelations and passionate promises. Kejriwal’s dedication to the idea of a free and fair India is touching, an India which is less corrupt, more equal and more just. Determined to usher in true participatory democracy, he explained it all in ‘Swaraj’, a slim book, that aims to show the way forward in this march towards self-rule. The book offers a whirlwind tour of corruption, from happenings in small ration shops to the enormity of disaster that looms beyond the Nuclear Civil Liability Bill, all the while telling you how evil the political leadership is and how worthless the entire political system. He fumes about the corruption, laments the lack of transparency, is enraged by the fact that ministers and MPs and MLAs and people’s representatives in general harm the very people they represent.
That the voter does not have the right to recall a representative who fails to deliver frustrates him, that politicians do not take the poor and the disempowered who vote them to power seriously enrages him.
“All the government officers, bureaucrats, the political leaders are actually your servants,” he writes. “It is tax paid by you that disburses their salary….” For true ‘swaraj,’ or self-rule, India must give power to the people, writes Kejriwal, and not to politicians alone. Gram sabhas must take primacy. In ‘Swaraj’, he urges the reader to come join his cause.
And the voter has. But there is a difference between the hot-blooded activist calling for change and the chief minister of a state. Will Kejriwal, the passionate idealist and shrewd people manager manage to govern well? Sure, he has made many positive contributions to Indian society at many levels – from working with the disempowered, to helping create the Right to Information Act, to relentlessly pushing forward the movement for Jan Lokpal. As the mastermind of the massive Anna Hazare movement, he had got millions of Indians together on the platform of India Against Corruption before parting ways with his mentor.
It is impossible to ignore the enormous change that AAP is bringing into politics, putting people firmly in the centre, all set to make participatory democracy flourish in a nation where the common people have been deeply neglected and exploited and democracy has become severely compromised. Its unique style is tingling fresh, one little splash and you are swiftly awake. It is a shock to the political system, of course, this no bungalow, no salary, no security, no corruption, only the grace-of-the-people-kind of politics. But it is not entirely new. We have seen it before. In Left politics.
So is Kejriwal’s AAP the new right-leaning Left? Perhaps. In which case it would make an excellent permanent opposition.
In any case, Kejriwal needs to work out ways he would want to hand power to the people, merely confiscating power from politicians and handing it to common people in gram sabhas may not work. He also needs to figure out how to deal with deep-set prejudices like sexism and casteism and the diktats of khap panchayats, which he has never spoken out against.
But as AAP prepares to form the government, making it clear that they will break the pattern at possibly every step, one can only hope that this resolve to build a new egalitarian, corruption-free, blessed India will last.
Antara Dev Sen is Editor, *The Little Magazine*.
Email: sen@littlemag.com
