Clever Mouse! चालाक चूहा !
Back in 2012 Delhi saw a thin ,emaciated , educated and a very relatable individual come to fore. Arvind Kejriwal was an engineer from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology;had worked for the Revenue service and was campaigning against corruption in public life. People took to him like a duck to water! His stated goal was to set up a "lekhpal"; a sort of public commissioner that would ensure probity. He emphasized that he will not be contesting any elections and has no political ambitions ! Public had visions of an altruistic Mahatma Gandhi that has come back to life!
He soon junked that 'absurd' idea and formed a political party; parting ways with his old mentor Anna Hazare and several other distinguished colleagues of the anti corruption movement. Good thing was that he swore an oath upon his children that he will never support that abysmally corrupt congress party nor will he ever take their support in forming the government. Come election and a hung verdict saw him form the government in Delhi province with the support of....... congress of course!
His personal integrity was still largely intact. Then he came up with his famous "Delhi" model of governance. This was largely based on taxpayer borne freebies to select voting blocks that ensured electoral majority for himself. It succeeded beyond success and in the next election in 2015 he decimated the opposition.Winning 67 seats out of 70. This is the moment his ambitions got ahead of himself. He considered himself the centre of all that is good in this world and projected himself for the top job in the country - Prime minister's office. He did contest against the Prime minister in a federal election and.... lost. In the process he shook hands with all kinds and took funds from entities inimical to the country. Anyone in his own party that pointed out these serious digressions from their party's stated goals was unceremoniously booted out. Even his closest associates and founding members of the party were shown the door. Not one or two; dozens had to leave ! He had the reigns of Delhi government though and controlled one of the largest provincial budgets in India.
Money is a great glue.and people still flocked to him. He took his party national and fought various other provincial elections with limited success. One province where he got a lot more purchase was Punjab where he was able to win a majority. Apparently to fund his expansion and huge election costs he accepted funds from dubious sources as well as created a 10 million dollar liquor licensing scam in Delhi.You may get drinking water in Delhi or not but you are never far from a liquor shop. Every street corner has one. Buy One Get One free scheme became common. He was later jailed and prosecuted for this corrupt mess. Currently he is out on bail in this case and professes complete innocence of any wrong doing..
In the meantime another election rolled in and on the back of his freebie strategy he steam rolled the opposition again. He lost a little bit but 62 out of 70 total seats is still a stupendous number! The fellow carried on his merry way. He turned dictatorial, confrontational and very economical with facts. Convinced that he is the next prime minister, he took one bad decision after another; turned his back on one associate after another and went back upon every word he ever uttered publicly.
His classic assertion that he does not want trappings of power went out of window when he got 4 heritage buildings torn down to make his 40,000 sq. ft official residence. A palace on 7 acres of land. Anyone that knows Delhi will know that 7 acres of prime residential land there would cost an unbelievably astronomical sum. On top of this he spent 8 times the allocated budget by indulging in creative accounting by breaking down jobs into smaller amounts. That fell just a little short of the threshold requiring oversight by the governors office !
Change does not happen overnight, things simmer around for a long time but arrogant narcissists have their heads so far up their own asses that they fail to see it. He truly believed that voters are very angry with authorities because he was wrongfully jailed ! In fact he boldly asserted that he will become the premier again only when people vote him in again; no matter the judicial decision in his favour. He was so certain of his victory that he asserted that no body can defeat him in this life!
Well elections rolled in recently and people gave their verdict and declared him to be corrupt. Fellow dropped 10% support. Enough for him to loose his own seat as well as the seats of every co accused of corruption in his cabinet. Voter condemnation was quite emphatic.In fact he lost 40 out of 62 seats he originally held. He could not get elected even as a simple member of the legislature , much less its premier ! Talk of over estimation ! Like the classic story the mouse has come a full circle to being a mouse again. This time with his tail between his legs!
He still has about 40% of the vote share in Delhi so can he cover lost ground? It depends! Without power and money that comes with it, it will be hard to keep his flock together. Especially since he does not have any largesse to dole out. I see a significant erosion in his party cadre base as well as bolting of his second rung leaders. Punjab where his party is in power will be a difficult platform to mount a counter offensive from. He is an outsider there and dictatorial by temperament. Sadly for him Punjab typically does not take orders that well !
According to reports he is currently facing about 50 various criminal cases, from plain lying to big time financial corruption. He is currently on conditional bail In liquor scam case. Bail specifically granted in light of elections.Elections are over and lost! His defence was being financed by Delhi tax payers. How is he going to pay for his defence now and what kind of time can he spare for politics after the full time job of trying to keep himself out of prison ? Most of his inner coterie is also looking at some quality jail time.
Kejriwal is in worse position today as compared to when he started out in 2012. All he has to show for the last 13 years is a personal image in tatters. I would not hold my breath for a swift recovery !
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