How far can AAP go?

The euphoria amongst the residents of Delhi in general and the supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in particular after AAP’s success in the December 2013 Assembly polls is quite like the one witnessed in March 1977 across the country in the wake of the defeat of the Congress at the hands of the Janata Party in the general elections and the installation of the first ever non-Congress Union government. Shiela Dixit herself got humiliated in her own constituency, as had Indira Gandhi in Rae Barielly then. Elsewhere, Congress lost out to the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh, while it retained power in Mizoram.

Post the debacle, a sudden flurry of activity from the Congress has been witnessed. The Lokpal Bill was hurriedly gotten passed by both the houses of parliament in record two days and has already received presidential assent. Maharashtra government, that had rejected the Judicial Commission report on Adarsh scam on 20^th December, is likely to reverse its decision soon. In the wake of the recent Supreme Court judgement upholding I.P.C. section 377 as valid a review petition has been hurriedly filed by the government, though nothing had been done for the last 13 years after Law Commission recommended that it be scrapped. Augusta Westland helicopter deal has been scrapped. Some twenty five years after Rajiv Gandhi famously admitted that barely 10% of the funds meant for the poor actually reached them – 90% being swindled en route, his son Rahul has suddenly realised that people are in a “mood” to fight corruption!

Anti-corruption crusader turned politician Arvind Kejriwal donning the mantle of the first non-Congress non-BJP Chief Minister of Delhi, albeit of a minority government, has to walk the tightrope in his bid to keep his populist poll promises on electricity and water; provide transparent and corruption free governance; as also to keep the Congress party in good humour to ensure its continued support. He has started off well by doing away with unnecessary heavy security in the Secretariat as also beacons on ministers and bureaucrats cars. After all, public servants who are not easily accessible to and have to be shielded from the ordinary citizens they are supposed to serve are not only useless but also a huge drain on scarce public funds.

All right thinking and forward looking citizens of India are fed up of the raging all round corruption that has taken firm roots in our country to an extent that, if not dealt with and uprooted urgently, will soon put a question mark on our very existence as a nation. Tales of how politicians, bureaucrats and power brokers are routinely looting us are uncovered regularly as newer scams get exposed. Police is busy guarding the “servants” of the public while the “masters” must fend for themselves. Kejriwal himself stood up for such issues and much of his electoral success can be attributed to this. As such, his working, particularly in the area of tackling graft, will be under constant public scrutiny.

Our political parties compete with each other in making unreasonable promises while wooing voters, subsidy being the magic word. LPG, kerosene and diesel are sold at less than what they cost in the name of “taming” inflation, rendering blue chip oil companies sick on one hand and preventing private players from competing on the other. Safety and services on Indian Railways, the third largest globally, take a back seat as passenger fares are not hiked for a decade since the incumbent ministers want to add to their political clout. Our leaders, perhaps, want us to become a nation of freeloaders wanting all without paying for anything.

In line with this tradition and as promised, the AAP government has already announced 700 litres of free water per household per day and slashed the electricity tariff by half for three months. More sops may be in the pipeline. How, why and for how long can goods and services can thus be provided is anybody’s guess. Ultimately some other vital plans have to be put on hold or abandoned altogether to support such subsidies. It would have been much better had AAP promised uninterrupted supplies at normal rates.

Congress has a notorious history of opportunistically propping up and ditching other dispensations at its whims. In 1979, it promised outside support to an ambitious Charan Singh who split the Janata Party to form a minority government, only to ditch him on the floor of the Lok Sabha. It meted out similar treatment to Chandra Shekhar in1990, H.D. Deve Gowda in 1997 and I.K. Gujral in 1998, thus forcing three early general elections on the country. Against this backdrop, it would be foolhardy to think that the present AAP government can last very long. As such Kejriwal has to work swiftly and hard to showcase his administrative skills. 

By lending support to AAP, Congress seems to have struck a political masterstroke. It has not only denied an upbeat BJP a 4-0 victory in the Hindi belt, but also ensured that Kejriwal and his team are kept busy in Delhi ahead of the parliamentary polls six months away, thereby minimising the influence of AAP elsewhere in the country. These twin objectives achieved, it is expected that Congress will lose little time in dumping Kejriwal soon after the general elections, irrespective of their outcome.

(Published in Garhwal Post on 3rd January 2014)