Opinion Out of My Mind: Akela Arvind Party
But how do you explain the fear of using the power you have won?
But instead of governing, this time Arvind Kejriwal has taken to a variety of diversionary tactics which are just baffling.
Erich Fromm was a very influential writer on psychoanalysis of social movements. He analysed the rise of Fascism in terms of the fear of freedom that many people felt. They preferred to be ordered about as it saved thinking for yourself. There are always people hankering for authoritarian rule because democracy makes life complex and decision-making difficult.
But how do you explain the fear of using the power you have won? Arvind Kejriwal had a brief sojourn in office for 49 days when he had a minority presence in the Delhi Assembly and ruled with the help of the Congress. At that time, he behaved like a young student agitator rather than a chief minister. This time around, he has absolute power with 67 out of 70 seats. He can do whatever he likes by way of policy. He can fulfil all his manifesto promises. But instead of governing, he has taken to a variety of diversionary tactics which are just baffling.
We saw a very public quarrel among the party leaders till we found out that there is and can be only one leader and Arvind Kejriwal is his name. The rest are unfit to be standing alongside him. What was a movement led by a group of like-minded friends has become the Akela Arvind Party (AAP).
Then he has picked a fight with the very same media on whose support he thrived when fighting the election. He now wants to sue them for defamation for daring to even mention his name, let alone criticise him. How dare they question the Supreme Leader?
So far so normal juvenile behaviour. But then he has escalated his quarrel with those he thinks are his rivals in authority. Hence the insistence that the Lieutenant Governor is surplus to his requirement. Kejriwal wants to be the sole leader of his state, which is to his frustration and anger only a Union territory. He wants Delhi to have the higher status. What better way then to bring the matters to such a pass that the Central government may be compelled to impose President’s Rule. Then, of course, Kejriwal will be vindicated in his masochism. This time he may be in office for a few more than 49 days and then fight the next election on the idea that the whole world is against him.
There is of course a certain bizarre logic to all this. Kejriwal loves to tilt at windmills. That was his start with Anna Hazare and he still behaves like a student agitator. He had his dharna the last time he was chief minister. When citizens have a complaint, he has been known to advise them to try a dharna to redress their grievance. He is himself on a sort of dharna on the appointment of the chief secretary for his government.
It is a tragedy that what began as one of the most promising democratic parties in recent years has become a one-man obsession. There is a vacuum on the political front. It looks like the Yadav Union of parties of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar may be stillborn. The Congress will not revive despite the Discovery of India by Rahul Gandhi. The Left is shrinking whatever Sitaram Yechury does. India needs a credible opposition party to confront the BJP for the health of democracy. And yet it is hard to credit the behaviour of AAP.
The hope from AAP was of course that it will tackle the many problems Delhi has — pollution, for instance, which has reached dangerous levels and threatens the health and even lives of schoolchildren and the elderly. AAP means to be pro-poor but without a well-thought-out economic strategy. Soon it will face the Budget issue. Like the CPM which bankrupted West Bengal in name of redistribution, AAP may yet do the same.
Contrast the behaviour of Ms Jayalalithaa. She obeyed the court and stepped down from office. She waited patiently till she could resume. One wishes Indira Gandhi had shown such good behaviour and not imposed an Emergency. Tamil Nadu is also one of the few states in India which is prosperous and a good welfare state. When will North India learn from the South?
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