An introduction: I am a thirty something small time businessman and big time cynic. Well educated ( in the Indian degree / Post Grad sense) yet despondent on soo many fronts. Now to the article
I have from quite sometime been very cynical about the chances of any drastic improvement in India whether in terms of Government or bureaucrats or politicians or the general public changing their usual lazy, corrupt short cut seeking ways and - till very recently - I have had very sound reasons for doing that.
In such a scenario when one man stood up and said that now that everything that I have tried to do to change the system has not worked, I will enter Politics ( observe the Capital P), the ultimate citadel of corruption, my casual reaction was " Aaah, yet another idealistic fool walks to his doom". A feeling of a Frodo entering Minas Tirith.
Imagine my shock when in Tolkein style he came out - relatively - triumphant. He could at least make it to the CM seat! However, to me the bigger sign of change was the one paper article which said "Officers in various government departments are burning old files out of fear" on the very day Arvind Kejriwal took his oath as CM! That was when the actual affect of the ripples were starting to be seen!
Unluckily I have had my share of experience with Govt. Departments ( from some of the best to the undeniably worst - Coal India!). So I have some inkling of how brazenly they do what they do. And there is no combination worse than bureaucracy and corruption! Not ANFO, not a ton of Potassium and water, not a psychopath and a machine gun! Nothing! They have such unbreakable belief in their armour of documentation that there is nothing you can do but bow to them!
To see such people shaken out of their apathy and false righteousness! ( The logic they follow being: " Politicians and the people above us eat so much more, that justifies our taking whatever we can as it's still lesser than what others are doing"). That was the time I started taking Kejru seriously!
There was still this eternal mistrust which has been ingrained genetically in us - probably from the time our ancestors saw their own people selling our secrets to various ( then) outsiders - from the Mughals to the British. There was this strong perception that he too is a player in the game, come in with his own "angle" to be got!
What I didn't get however was why would somebody with something to gain give up a cushy government job in - of all places - the Income Tax Department and go out to take on an all but impossible task of cleaning up politics? As an IRS official he can make crores of rupees by just letting people know when he is going to be absent! ( I've seen such offers given so that the Officer In-charge of the day can then be bribed to get the file passed!). So money is probably out. I thought maybe like most other people beyond a level, money doesn't matter. Maybe it's power!
But logically even that didn't seem to make sense! For however a megalomaniac he was ( is ), it is impossible that he could've predicted that they would do so well in the elections! Especially before he even started a political party! I'm sure he would've been welcomed with open arms into any party ( Congress or BJP) if he had wanted to join them then! So there were safer, better ways to power.
That only left ideals. Still I wasn't a big fan. I've seen many idealistic persons fall on their face ( including yours truly) simply because of their inability to overcome reality in what they aim for! So ideals without competency is of no use. So I decided not to get myself too worked up and went on with my usual struggle for existence.
However, when he actually showed that he could do it! He could mobilise people, he could build a team from scratch, he could fight an election at - probably - 1/100th the budget and still come out a creditable second!
Something was however still holding me back! Probably the middle class mentality of "Why get into something like this unnecessarily. Let's stick to what we are doing" thingy.
What however shamed me into becoming - ever so slightly - more active was the reactions and the accusations that were thrown at him and his party. The tone was abrasive, the logic was trash and the manner in which each minor infraction was analysed, blown up and distorted was so wonderfully professional that if it wasn't towards such a horrendous end, one would've sat back admiring the wonderful manner in which it was done!
Some of the points thrown ( and swallowed by our "educated" classes) bordered on the ridiculous! He is corrupt and not a keeper of his words because he took a 5 bedroom apartment! REALLY? As a small businessman, I live in a three bed room and claim my right saying that I have worked hard for it! And you're grudging a Chief Minister a 5 bedroom apartment? Especially when it comes to light - much later on a blog online - that his wife is anyways eligible for a 4 bedroom house as an IRS officer! Come ON!! We're in a country where we get confused on how many zeroes to add when we're talking of scams! ( 1,76,000 Crores comes to mind!) And here we are grudging a guy 1 extra bedroom because he became CM!
The others were the U-Turn Kejriwal and the sooo many jokes! We are - again - talking of a political scenario in our country where our erstwhile beloved Megastar campaigned against the Congress, won his votes ( and his seat) and later conveniently merged with the same Congress! Where was the outrage? He wasn't called U Turn Chiranjeevi. BJP strongly supported the Reddy brothers ( it was openly known that they were close to Sushma Swaraj) and had to ditch them. Yeddiyurappa was removed as CM, formed his own party, spoke virulently against them and again joined back! Nobody calls eithe Yeddy or the BJP as U Turn! The Congress is indeed synonymous with it's symbol of "giving hand" ( Haath dena) and backtracking on each and every commitment given. Their number of turns in the Telangana issue would've been worth not just a U, but an A-Z turn! They could've navigated the entire Judge Harrison Highway Interchange in the number of turns they took! Nobody called them any names!
All this reminded me of this old folk tale told to me long ago
There was once a beggar in a village who would go begging to two houses in a street. One lady always gave him alms, while the other always refused. One day as he came begging, the lady who gave alms said " I can't give you any alms today as my husband has come home and I need to serve him first". To which he replied ( a loose translation) " The lady who doesn't give alms anyway doesn't' give, you give alms everyday, what happened to you bitch?"
Basically we've gotten so used to the mainstream parties backstabbing us, eating money, selling contracts, etc. that there is no shock or even a sense of outrage when they do it. But for a new comer - especially one who claims to not be like them - for him to make a genuine mistake? ( or change his mind - like his decision to enter politics) NO WAY!! He's U-Turn Kejriwal!
So yes, we cannot trust him anymore! I would rather scathe him with my scorn and my sense of betrayal when he resigned! Let us hold him accountable for having quickly resigned and take what the Congress says at face value - that IF the file had gotten central government approval they would've supported it. So what if they are the same people at the centre who refused to pass it? So what if even the much lamer version of the Lokpal bill was passed only when Congress saw that Kejriwal came to power on this massive sense of outrage in the people? No, we will trust and respect the "Lady who never gives" rather than respect what he had done or tried to do in 49 days!
Note: All he did was resign - not eat money, not kill/ transfer an honest officer or anything like that - and the rest of us in India didn't vote for him, didn't donate money to him, didn't do anything to support other than to build up our own random expectations!
I could go on, whether it is about the Khirki Extension issue or the Rakhi Birla issue or any of the so many other issues raised against his governance! The simple question is would these things even be media worthy if done by a Congress / BJP guy? It would be run of the mill, not even worth the mention on TV, leave alone the bashing!
I too started doubting my support to him when the Delhi Jal Board Chairman himself apparently said that Kejriwal's scheme isn't workable and would drown the board in debt! Then he gave the statistics in an interview! He said the Jal Board last year made 270 Crores profit! Worst case, that money will go back to the poor of the country! He then quoted another statistic wherein a Jal Board report itself shows the pipeline in a particular locality being fine and yet being replaced in a period of 4 months for a cost of approx. 400 Crores! ( Clearly done to benefit the contractor and through him the bureaucrats with their "percentage"). His point was that even if he is able to stop one such false work, he covers the money. The interviewer did not refute his facts. He moved on to the next accusation. No other party came back with data saying Kejriwal was talking out of his Nehru topi! They then said he's doing this as an antic as it still does not benefit those without meters! His answer that this will in turn encourage people to regularize their connections as they'd still get free water fell on deaf ears!
This and many such allegations is what has made me today change from a "wise" and eternal cynic to a reluctant optimist! I still don't see too much hope for them. They will not win 272 seats. However, they've done enough to show us that those of us who inspite of the bleak world we live in have not given up our ideals, who still dream patriotically of an India which would be worth the many lives sacrificed for our freedom, we need to stand up and do what we can. I am reminded of the last lines in the movie Dev in the inimitable voice of the great Amitabh Bachchan where he says " The job of a warrior is to fight. It is not to think of the result. It is to fight till his very last breath even when he knows that failure is inevitable". While I might not go to that extent, I will not remain a silent spectator any more!
The other thing that changed me was his manner of facing interviews and the facts he rolled out! When one PM candidate refuses to give interviews - after his sweating, water gulping fiasco, the other becomes the George W Bush of India with his one interview in a decade of ruling, we find this man facing interview on interview, countering every allegation with facts and data and we still believe others and are not willing to give him a chance!
Another final point in closure. I do NOT believe in all his policies. The concept of a local police reporting to the local Panchayat I think is extremely wrong! There is too much concentration of power. His approach of Soft Hindutva is sooo disappointing. His support of hyper patriotism too seems counter to modern thoughts.
However, I believe that when the intention is right, they will change as required. He will - hopefully - take another U Turn there when he sees that what he's put in place is not working!
Jai Hind
