Khalbaliwal

Last night my uncle called from London and was very curious about this Khalbaliwal who was supposedly creating havoc in Delhi! It took me a second but could well figure out whom he meant. Of course our own self-proclaimed anarchist – Kejriwal. Unfortunately my septuagenarian uncle is not very aware of the political churning going on in our country, unlike many net savvy overseas Indians who have supported him with a lot of contributions in terms of money and backing on the social media.

Being a South Indian, raised in Dehradun and finally settled in Delhi for more than 25 years, I can call myself a Delhite. In my views, Kejriwal came as a breath of fresh air in the muddied waters of politics. He had lofty dreams and the one thing that touched the cords was he was one of us – trying to make an honest living in this great democracy and fighting the corrupt mechanism. It sure is frustrating that even trying to get a legitimate gas connection or a driving license renewed one has to go through the torture of utter harassment of the officials on duty. Who is responsible for this pathetic state of affairs? Is it the politicians, bureaucrats or us? The irony is that we are both, the perpetrators and the victim. We have allowed such state of affairs to prevail  – be it for time or priority. This is just the tip of the iceberg, the larger issue is not service to the nation but blatantly looting the nation which is the true face of politics today. Huge projects, contracts, liaisons are profitable enough for seven generations to thrive and exploit the very system which was created to serve the people of the nation. Politics is a dirty word.

Kejriwal started with a promise of sweeping this system with his proverbial broom, making the nation squeaky clean of corruption, dynastism, and giving the people of this country – Swaraj or self-rule. This pipe dream sounded too good to be true - millions backed him, Indians from all over the world, the youth of the nation, the cynics, giving up their cynicism- all joined him. Then he came to power. Power is like opium. The addiction blinds you. He gave a free hand to all his ministers to run their departments the way they wanted. The law minister summoned the judge, became a self styled commando and charged to arrest the “lawbreakers” in the middle of the night. He was the judge, jury and executioner.  Then comes our Chief Minister, sitting on a protest, Just whom were they protesting to? He forgot he was the government and behaved like an activist. This was very close to the Republic Day of our country. He said he did not care, and this was like a freedom movement. Was he looking at himself as a reincarnation of Mahatama Gandhi? Somewhere he had lost his vision.

People who defaulted on their electricity bills are being rewarded with a waiver. People who paid their bills on time to avoid disconnection are the losers. Doing the honest and the right thing is not being rewarded here. Kejriwal gives a warped explanation that people who defaulted were the people who risked everything to support him when he was not the Chief Minister. So this is their little reward. Here I see a very thin line between reward and bribe. Corruption is indeed a serious matter in our country, but we can only find solutions from within. Encouraging citizens to carry out sting operations will create chaos. Urging people to entrap officials would lead to vindictive desperation to create an anarchic society. The rule of the law must prevail and people should be encouraged to take recourse within the system. Good governance can only be strengthened by the 4 pillars of democracy, which are, Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and Press. Another important pillar can be the Civil Society, which will act as a moral conscience of society. Transparency, Lok Pal and RTI are very powerful and if Kejriwal can get to use these tools to empower society rather than making  the citizens into a lynch mob, this nation has great hope in him.

Instead of hurrying a change, Kejriwal should have first concentrated on building a credible team to assist him. His bijli-paani politics will only take him far enough to reach a deadlock, if he wants to enter the broader arena of national politics he has to empower people to become mature participants in helping creating polity rather than on referendum politics which is a false assurance of a democracy gone all wrong. Democratization and participative politics is the key to good governance. A collaborative role of civil society and the citizens of the state is the cornerstone of a progressive nation. This cannot be achieved in a few days or a few months, but starting the process is important in this churning of the political system. Good will definitely prevail.

A true leader is one who instills confidence and trust in his people. Not just by using populist measures to appease the auto wallahs, the migrants in Delhi and the illegal occupants on government land, who are his captive vote bank. I am truly disappointed to see the myopic vision of Kejriwal who came in with a lot of promise and converted us into cynics. Today he lost the vote on the lok pal bill. He has resigned playing to the gallery and waiting to be declared a martyr.  A man in a hurry will always be trampled.

I am reminded of a board outside a shop declaring

“No bargaining, we do not support Corruption.”