A Machiavellian letter to Arvind Kejriwal

Teesta Dasgupta

The media seems to have falsely dubbed Rahul Gandhi as the Prince of Politics but I would disagree. Had India been a monarchy Rahul would have ascended to the throne by virtue of his hereditary rights. As Machiavelli says, the people being familiar with the Congress brand of governance and disposed to loving their ruler, all previous laws if kept intact and no outrageously horrible acts committed against people – Rahul would have kept his throne. Sadly for the Gandhis, India is a democracy. It’s only during elections that you realize how powerful your one vote is. You can wave it like a carrot and get stuff done. The Congress led UPA government is making quite a spectacle of themselves. Three important bills – The Telangana Bill, The Whistle blowers’ (Protection) Act and The Regulation of Street Vending (and Protection of Livelihoods) Bill – got passed in a matter of weeks. Some of them had been stuck in the Rajya Sabha for years! If you have been following up on the latest Budget, presented by P. Chidambaram you will see how bad Congress wants to win back the educated middle class that seems to have swayed over to the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party). Cars are now cheaper, the Budget waived the interest for students who took educational loans before 2008, at last the armed forces have a one rank – one pension policy and excise duty on certain goods is being dumped.

However, all this is too little too late. The new prince is slowly gaining ground and he is known by the name of Arvind Kejriwal. Sure, Modi was a likely candidate for the prince hood but he did not rise from oblivion or have a past seeped in social activism.  In all fairness, Kejriwal truly fits Machiavelli’s definition of a prince – a private citizen raised to prominence by his work and the favours of his fellow citizens. In that respect, Machiavelli has some advice for him. He is in a sticky situation on three fronts. The people he shifted from power – the Congress and the people who he is a threat to – the BJP are waiting for him to slip. The Congress ‘Pol Kholo Abhiyaan’ which is accusing Kejriwal of having acquired foreign funds already has him embroiled in a PIL hearing. The AAP that brought him to prominence will waver if he doesn’t serve their vested interests. There will be infighting in a party with no established hierarchy and one example is the gathering of the AAP workers outside the party office in Rishi Nagar and expressing their resentment for having allotted a ticket to Khaliya, from Hisar, who is a new member and ignoring older leaders. The common people will also not be as accustomed to lax on their part. After all they want change, don’t they? In his manifesto AAP had agreed to issue 5500 NCR permits to the Auto-Brigade but in his 49 days he failed to address the issue and hence the Brigade will no longer be campaigning for him in the Lok Sabha elections as they did in the Legislative Assembly and that is a sizeable loss.

Also, Anna Hazare is right when he says that Kejriwal is a man in a hurry. But can you blame him? He wants to ride the tide. His expansionist policy is very obvious. The AAP cadres may tell you they resigned from the Delhi seat because the Jan Lokpal Bill ( something that they had promised to bring to fruition in 15 days of coming to power in their manifesto) was blocked – but truth be said, their eyes have always been on the Lok Sabha elections. If they wait it will take 5 more years to get to the top. Five years is a long time for delusion to set in. You can’t please everybody and very soon, the AAP will recede from peoples’ minds into the background. They will no longer be the symbol of deliverance. Chances are, they will become just another pseudo-political part-activist party that plays moral police. So, the party has been working tirelessly to make their presence felt. Candidates have been set up in major constituencies and Kejriwal even issued a statement saying that they are confident of winning at least 100 seats. Some important members being pitched are – Kumar Vishwas against Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, Medha Patkar against Sanjay Dina Patil in North East Mumbai, Ashutosh against Kapil Sibal in Chandni Chowk (Kiran Bedi is rumoured to be running from the same under a BJP ticket), Hardev Singh against Mulayam in Mainpuri (UP), Subhas Ware against Kalmadi in Pune and the prince himself from Varanasi if Modi decides to run from there.

Like a true Machiavellian, Mr Kejriwal has eliminated any other power centre in the party. We all came to know of him when he jointly led the campaign for Jan Lokpal Bill with Anna Hazare but since then he has distanced himself from the grand old man. Had Anna still been a part of the AAP there would be two foci with some members gravitating to Hazare and others to Kejriwal, there would be difference of opinion and weakening of the nascent party. So snubbing Anna after having used his popularity to reach the masses was always a part of the AAP’s plan. Word is he didn’t even care to reply to Hazare’s 17 point agenda on anti-corruption, decentralization and land reforms. Hazare now is campaigning for Mamata Banerjee outside West Bengal. Kejriwal even revised the rules to clear the rad for a more centralized; Delhi based AAP – angering many members in the process.

Going by the newest internet trends AAP has shown themselves to be some kind of Lawless Good- a disgruntled vigilante. Their reduction of the power tariff by 50% and then increasing the cost per unit by double was a major fail. Providing 700 l of water to every household was a brilliant move -how sustainable though is still to be decided – unless the next Government decides to take it off. The raid by Bharti in the Khirki extension is an example of AAP going too far. Your intentions may be good but you cannot force the good on people just like you can’t force the injustice. At the end of the day, parties seem to forget that even the people have a choice. AAP is no exception.

Teesta Dasgupta is an avid blogger, food-buff, incorrigible bibliophile and given to hair-splitting analysis of everything under the sun. She is finishing her degree at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and works part-time as a volunteer for a SWO (Siliguri Welfare organization) in her scenic hometown of Siliguri, Darjeeling. She swears by Oscar Wilde, Ayn Rand, Coldplay, The Big Bang Theory (TBBT) and pizza. Feel free to contact her at owruleth@gmail.com or Twitter.