The Aam Aadmi Party’s politics is taking a frightening shape. It should worry us if people begin endorsing vigilantism of the variety that we are witnessing in Delhi in the name of ‘participatory democracy'
Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party have luck —loads of it, in fact — stacked on their side. As do Sonia Gandhi and her Congress. Just about the time, media, more so news television which has reduced political debate to prime time WWF-style tawdry entertainment for the lowest common denominator that we often confuse with the educated classes, was beginning to realise that the law of diminishing returns had set in and saturation adulatory coverage of every word and deed of the New Messiah was no longer grabbing eyeballs, two things happened. The Congress decided not to field Rahul Gandhi, the great hope of the party and its faithful, as its Prime Ministerial candidate for the general election. That no doubt depressed our establishment media desperately seeking to prop up the Nehru dynasty scion as the knight in shining armour who alone could lead India out of the mess created, ironically, by the Congress, and thus push up sagging TRPs. There was a glimmer of hope when Rahul Gandhi gave his three-lPG-cylinder-propelled speech at the AICC session in Talkatora stadium — here was a moment to seize. In the event, the moment was seized by a tragedy that has understandably shocked people: The sudden, unnatural death (as described by doctors who conducted the autopsy) of Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar. There can be nothing more gripping — and distracting — in these bleak times than a Congress Minister’s wife being found dead in the room of a luxury hotel right in the heart of Delhi.
With the media going into an overdrive to cover Sunanda Pushkar’s death, the valiant flailing of arms by Rahul Gandhi pretending to be Spartacus at Friday’s Roman circus, and cutting a rather pathetic figure, never made it to prime time and the top slot on the front page of weekend papers. While this has no doubt saddened durbaris and other assorted Dynasty sycophants, it can be safely presumed that the Palace has heaved a sigh of relief. One game-changer moment too many would not have made the Congress’s electoral prospects any brighter; on the contrary, the flood of ridicule would have drowned what little remains of the party first family’s already tattered dignity. We can also presume, without fear of contradiction by the self-righteous sanctimonious leaders of AAP (never mind their raucous our-hero-can-do-no-wrong cheerleaders), that Arvind Kejriwal and his colleagues are secretly delighted to have fallen off the media’s radar. It’s not exactly flattering to see the law Minister of Delhi behaving like a bustee don with senior police officers on live TV or read about women being forced to urinate in public by AAP vigilantes. Arvind Kejriwal and other generals of his army of the righteous and virtuous desperately needed a break from the glare of increasing public scrutiny and mounting scorn; the grim reaper rode in to bail them out.
But like all such events that grip public attention and cause wildfire speculation, fuelled, often recklessly, by the social media and the mainstream media (each trying to outdo the other), the story about Sunanda Pushkar and her poignantly unhappy last days too shall lose traction and get squeezed out by the ruthless news cycle that has scant regard and even lesser respect for human sentiments and sensitivities. By then, we would be almost into the election season which is just about setting in. Yet, that should not deter us from the rather dangerous and, if I may say so, frightening politics taking shape in the form of Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP. No, this is not about indulging in alarmism or striking out at a party with whose ideology, if that word can at all be used in the context of AAP, any sensible person would disagree. It is about the sign of things to come if the deeds of AAP are to be taken seriously. There is no percentage in dwelling over the foolishness of water and power subsidies for those who need them the least or the stupidity of those who revel in receiving such unsustainable subsidies. Nor is any purpose served by getting distracted over the silliest of all debates: Should a Chief Minister live in a three-bedroom or four-bedroom apartment. If at all we must debate and discuss the issue of housing for those holding public office, it should be whether those among them who own property should qualify for tax-funded accommodation. Similarly, the manufactured debate over security cover for those who are potential targets of attacks is utterly meaningless, as was explained in these columns last Sunday.
What should worry us is whether people have begun endorsing vigilantism of the variety that we are witnessing in Delhi in the name of ‘participatory democracy’ and ‘popular governance’. It should bother us that partisans of AAP have invaded hospitals and are dictating doctors and other healthcare staff how to go about their jobs. News reports tell us that AAP activists have been barging into labour rooms and dragging out surgeons from operation theatres to do their bidding. Then there was this spectacle involving the law Minister of Delhi, Somnath Bharti, whom Arvind Kejriwal tirelessly defends, and his supporters in the middle of the night. They demanded the police raid and arrest some African women living in rented premises, accusing them of running a drugs and prostitution racket. When the police refused to oblige without filing a report and securing a warrant, and pointing out that women cannot be taken into custody after sunset in such a cavalier manner, they were roundly abused. Worse, Somnath Bharti and his men then accosted four of these women, forced them to urinate in public, made them undergo drug tests (which turned up negative) and are now seeking the sacking of the police officers who refused to do their bidding. Strangely, Arvind Kejriwal, who has perfected the art of speaking in a little boy voice and fluttering his eyelashes when on camera, has endorsed this shocking deed. In recent days, he has also waved aside severe strictures passed by the courts against Somnath Bharti for “tampering with evidence” in a criminal case. In the AAP scheme of things, courts are of little or no relevance. It is equally irrelevant that his Minister names the victim of yet another gangrape in Delhi while he, Arvind Kejriwal who denounced Sheila Dikshit for not acting swiftly in such cases, twiddles his thumbs and says he needs seven days to deal with it. Where are the voices of outrage among Delhi’s young, educated, informed, aspirational middle-classesIJ
Arvind Kejriwal now threatens to sit on a dharna to both push his untenable, illegitimate demand for the sacking of policemen and regain media’s faltering attention. Another Chief Minister, Ajoy Mukherjee, sat on a dharna in Calcutta in 1969. The city has never been the same again; West Bengal’s subsequent misery is common knowledge and requires no elaboration.
(The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi)