The die is cast. India Against Corruption ( IAC) led by Arvind Kejriwal has taken a plunge in the whirlpool of murky Indian politics and decided to form a political party. This is news .And very good news for his political detractors who must be chortling in delight on his joining their ranks, rather echoing the words of the immortal ' Gabbar Singh' from the Hindi classic film 'Sholay'( 1975), -- "Ab aayega maza khel ka ". At the best of times, a politician does not enjoy a good reputation. But in the present atmosphere of scams, scandals and stings it would require a brave soul to leave the safe bastion of a moralistic civil society and enter into the notoriously dark caves of politics. No wonder, the debut of this nascent outfit has been welcomed with a controversy engulfing its three media-savvy members alleged to be involved in wrong-doings. Baptism by the political fire, one would venture to say. An IAC-appointed Ombudsmen ( 3 former judges of High Courts ) will investigate into the allegations against Prashant Bhushan, Mayank Gandhi and Anjali Damaniya. Instead of questioning others through TV Channels/ press conferences they will be replying to the queries from the judges. It may not be an ominous start but far from an auspicious beginning. A gratuitous pincer attack from an erstwhile fellow traveller has further confounded the well-wishers of this organisation. It is going to be a long season of attacks, barbs, defamation suits, innuendos, counter-attacks and unpleasant situations.
Till yesterday the IAC team were protected by the Anna shield.
Anna's simplicity, modesty, honesty and steely determination to fight
corruption had created a halo around him when he led the Lok Pal bill movement
in the early 2011. His aura had inspired millions in this country to hit the
streets on the issue of Jan Lok Pal bill. Fight against rampant corruption
became top social priority for people from different segment of society and the media had a field day. The
embers will keep burning, at least, till the next General elections.
Kejriwal and his colleagues, with their apparent dedication, motivation and
fighting spirit did a tremendous job in transforming Anna's vision into a near-
reality. Their contribution in making Anna a household name can neither be overlooked
nor underestimated. Sadly, it is a distant past now. After parting company
with Anna and his cap he is donning a new cap of mango people. Very soon he
will have the company of the very people he denounces. What a quirk of fate.
The mutation of a popular civil society activist into a budding politician is
baffling.
Though his fledgling party would require considerable time, efforts and resources to make its presence felt, Kejriwal seems to be a man in tearing hurry. He will realize soon enough that politics is a different proposition altogether.The word politics is derived from the word ‘poly’ meaning 'many' and the word 'tics' meaning'blood-sucking parasites'(Larry Hardiman).Since he has dubbed all political parties as corrupt and in cahoots with each other, it is presumed he will not go for an alliance with two main parties and most of the remaining parties whose leaders are facing corruption charges. Going alone in Assembly or Lok Sabha elections will be suicidal for his party. As it is, his influence is confined to some parts of Haryana, Delhi and West UP, courtesy Anna movement. In the last Lok Sabha elections in 2009 the two main parties (Congress and BJP) won 322 seats with nearly 48% votes. Further, the two alliances led by them, UPA (Congress and 10 other parties) and NDA (BJP and 7 other parties) captured 421 seats (four-fifth of the total seats with nearly 62% votes) taking the lion's share of the political space. It may not be comforting for Kejriwal and his friends to know that most of these parties have a cadre, abundance of resources( read money-power and muscle-power) accumulated over the last many years, and a gang of seasoned campaigners well-versed in the art and craft of electoral politics. These parties are familiar with the permutation and combination of caste, religion, local issues and right slogans. So in a political Mahabharat his position will be much worse than that of Abhimanyu in the Chakravyuh.
Corruption is a major issue today as it was 25 years ago. VP Singh who had been UP Chief Minister and India's Finance and Defence Minister left Congress in 1987 to form Jan Morcha party. His party's first foray in the UP assembly election drew a blank winning just 1 seat out of 118 contested. Subsequently he had to merge his party with Lok Dal, Janata Party and Congress(S) to cobble together a disparate Janata Dal. In the 9th Lok Sabha elections in 1989, when the Bofors scandal was at its nadir and VP Singh's popularity at its peak the Janata Dal could get only 143 seats and had to secure help of both leftist and rightist parties to form a government which lasted barely 11 months.In terms of fame and reputation, VP Singh of pre-1989 days was miles ahead of Kejriwal of 2012 but disappeared into the political oblivion very soon.The grim lesson for Kejriwal is that it would be impudent as well as imprudent to go for a head-on confrontation with all parties simultaneously. A less unwise step would have been to stay away from the real politics for a few years, maintain pressure on the corrupt politicians/corporates/bureaucrats troika and continue the fight for the electoral and other reforms including Lok Pal and create a broad-based party cadre before testing your strength in an electoral battle. But since he has crossed the Rubicon, the second option is to go for an alliance of like-minded organisations that may be keen to test electoral waters and, perhaps, less-tainted political parties. Because a few good and reasonably honest politicians would be available in most of the parties in India even if their numbers have been dwindling over the years, just as the numbers of dishonest and ugly politicians have been swelling.
"Ye Siyasat nahin aasaan bas itna samajh lijiye,
Ek aag ka dariya hai aur doob kar jaanaa hai".
But the manner in which Kejriwal has rattled some well- known people linked with politics and politicians by serial expose of their misdeeds in the last fortnight is truly striking. Some have been put on the defensive.Some are running for the cover. Some have gone into the hiding and the rest are having anxious moments. This is no mean achievement and should make his supporters happy and fence-sitters hopeful.
