Around three months back, the cover story of the popular magazine India Today was -'Bhaago Kejriwal Aaya'(Kejriwal arrives! Hence let's run!) referring to the panic among the(Indian) corrupt because of Arvind Kejriwal's activities. And now Arvind Kejriwal has finally arrived, emerging as a force to reckon with in Indian politics. Not being a charismatic personality like N.T. Rama Rao or J. Jayalalitha, this middle class person has now become the symbol of courage and strength of India's common man. Not only his political outfit - Aam Aadmi Party has presented a spectacular show in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha polls but he himself has also become a Giant-Killer by rendering a humiliating defeat(by a huge margin of votes) to three times Delhi CM Sheila Dixit.
An IITian by qualification, Kejriwal has been a bureaucrat in his earlier career and his efforts towards enactment of Right to Information Act won him the Raman Magsaysay Award in 2006. After leaving service, he started his NGO - Public Cause Research Foundation and after a few years, joined Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpaal movement. In 2012, he disassociated with Anna's movement and decided to join the political fray of India, launching his Aam Aadmi Party(the party of the commoners). Fighting its first ever full-fledged election, Aam Aadmi Party has won 40% of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha seats(28 out of 70) and ensured a crushing defeat of the ruling party.
How could Arvind Kejriwal, a barely 45 years old person, do it without any glamor or other magnetic trait associated with his personality? The answer is - he could do it with his sheer courage to take on the mighty corrupts and his conviction that he could do it. Sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can. Arvind Kejriwal thought he could do it and now he has done it. The ruling party did not leave any stone unturned in harassing him under the pretext of govt. rules and practices but he did not yield. And his conviction in his own ability as well as in the wisdom of the Indian masses has finally paid. Neither himself nor his party has won due to negative votes. The votes that have been cast in favour of AAP are positive votes because people have trusted him. He is the face of the Indian middle class but the fact is, a large chunk of slum-dwellers of Delhi has also voted for him, trusting his word. He did not just go for media-based propaganda but actually portrayed himself as an Aam Aadmi(commoner) by visiting door-to-door and establishing straight communication with the real voters.
India is marred by corruption which has been being seen as crossing all the sane bounds over the past few years. Anna Hazare took up a noble cause but refused to accept the electoral system prevailing in India which is the foundation of the Indian democracy. In my view, this approach of Anna was(and is) wrong. Cursing the politicians and also the voters(for selling their votes for money and liquor) is no solution to any problem being faced by the country. Arvind Kejriwal did the rightest thing by joining politics because you have to be in the system to change the system. And Kejriwal chose the most apt symbol for his party - broom which is symbolic of cleaning the trash of corruption scattered all over the present system.
Since Kejriwal's party has not got sufficient majority to form the government in the UT of Delhi, he has been saying that his party will sit in the opposition and won't stake claim to form the government. He is not going to read this blog of mine but in my humble submission, he should change this policy of his and form the government(albeit a minority government) without compromising over any of his declared principles and leave it to the legislators of the other parties whether to support him or not. I am sure, in the given scenario, his government won't be toppled in the short run and he will not only win the confidence motion in the House but also be able to run the administration with confidence and without undue hindrances. If he doesn't do it, Delhi will remain under the President's Rule for no fault of the voters who have uprooted the incumbent government under the hope of a better rule. Since the political party that has emerged as the biggest party in the House, is not staking its claim to form the government, it's Kejriwal's duty to live up to people's expectations and accept the challenge to run the government, rendering a clean and more efficient governance. I hope, he won't be carried away by complacency and false pride of not-being-greedy-of-power and take the correct decision in the interest of not only himself and his political outfit but also the public at large.
All the best Arvind Kejriwal. You are the new hope of Indians, those Indians who want to discard divisive, dynastic and corrupt politics for good.
