OPINION

On the first working day of 2022, the city had witnessed a huge jam following the Bandh call given by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) protesting the implementation of the New Excise Policy. It was an indicator of the things to come, we all know what turn the New Excise Policy took, landing a Minister in jail and several named in the charge-sheet of what seems to be a humungous scam.

There are no aggressive indicators this time around and hopefully the city would be free of any jam on the first working day of the year. And if that happens, hopefully the city too witnesses a jam free year. This is quite possible as the same political party is now dominant force in both the state assembly and the municipal council.

However the famous English poet TS Eliot said, “… between the idea and the reality falls the shadow.”  Given the posturing by the two leading political parties of the city – The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), there would be continued jam in the smooth governance of the city. The blame game would continue and the city’s civic health would continue to suffer.

However, the Aam Aadmi Party is back to what it does best indulge in propaganda than govern. It has already started a campaign titled ‘BJP’s 15 years Vs AAP’s 3 weeks’, which is 'showcasing' the work done by its councillors in the last 20 days. Their prominent MLA Durgesh Pathak has claimed that the party has not even officially taken the oath of the MCD and within a few days a big change is visible in the city.

If people in Delhi were awaiting a change in their lives following the results of the recent MCD polls, differently interpreted by different television channels, depending on their ideological loyalty, it was not going to happen. At least the uttering of the political people in the week after the elections do not give any indication for change.

Last week there was an unfortunate acid attack by stalkers on a school-going girl. The shameful incident was indication enough for the political motor mouths to once again get into a wordy duel. Aam Aadmi Party national spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that after the arrival of Delhi L-G V K Saxena, crimes have gone up in Delhi.  “L-G saab, you have Delhi Police with you and crimes are increasing every day. Instead of interfering in the work of the Delhi Government, you should concentrate on your work. After your arrival, crimes are increasing in Delhi,” he said in a tweet.

The other prominent face of the ruling party in Delhi government and now also in the municipal corporation, Swati Maliwal said, “Despite a ban, the chemical is as easy to purchase as vegetables.”  In a video uploaded on Twitter, Maliwal said “We have issued notice to the city police over the incident. The attackers should be arrested and given stringent punishment.”  The attackers have been arrested and the law would take its own course.

There is this famous couplet from Bhakti era saint Kabirdas which says, “Duvidha mein dou gaye, na Maya mili na Ram (when in two minds you neither get world pleasures, nor spiritual salvation).” The recent attempt by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to emerge as rival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created somewhat similar situation for him.

The results of the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and that of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi clearly indicate that while there were not many takers for Kejriwal’s Hindu espousal, there was definite disenchantment in the minority community on the issue. The loss of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates in the minority-dominated wards of Delhi are a clear indicator. If there was any doubt, lesson was learnt when AAP tried to poach on a few Muslim corporators from Congress, who were brow beaten back by the local populace.

Kejriwal for the past few years had been working towards creating an Hindu image for himself. The mention to put images of Ganesh and Lakshmi on the currency notes was not a flash in the pan but a serious attempt at embarrassing the BJP leadership on matters of Hindu religion.

If there was one proposition of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal, which was rejected lock, stock and barrel, it his claim that his party was ‘kattar imandar’ which when translated into English would be rabidly honest. Though there is no grammatical error in somebody being rabidly honest but language usage wise it’s like an oxymoron.

Staying on language use, ‘kattar’ or rabid have negative connotation. The better phrasing could have been fervently honest or in Hindi ‘drin imandar’. Anyway, the whole idea of the use was to shock or awe the voter with the claim especially in the face of the corruption charges faced by its senior leaders.

This attempt to repair the dent in AAP’s image of being an impeccably honest party has come a cropper. Its senior leaders, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who is facing corruption charges in the liquor scam, transport minister Kailash Gahlot, who is in dock in a case of alleged swindling in purchase of buses, and jail minister Satyendra Jain, who ironically is incarcerated in money laundering case, were snubbed by the voters in their constituencies.

One of the first reactions of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership on their performance in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls has been that the people have rejected the corruption charges against its leaders Satyendra Jain and Manish Sisodia. Those who keenly follow politics of this country would recall that the discovery of fodder scam in Bihar did not really harm the political fortunes of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) strongman Lalu Prasad Yadav.

It took another decade before the RJD government was replaced by the NDA government led by Nitish Kumar in 2005. The vote against Lalu Yadav was not exactly against his acts of corruption but mal-governance and lack of development with Nitish Kumar promising ‘Sushashan’ (good governance). Despite Nitish bringing relatively cleaner and more efficient governance in Bihar, Lalu Yadav’s party did not go out of business.

Arvind Kejriwal’s party which had its genesis in the anti-corruption movement and its leaders claiming to not seek a share in the power structure, today has imprisoned ministers refusing to quit office despite being denied bail by the trial court and also the high court. This was something which the much-maligned Lalu Prasad Yadav also did not indulge in when he was arrested in the fodder scam case.