How Modi and RSS took the wind out of a rebellious Kejriwal

The story of Arvind Kejriwal seems to be coming to an end, for now. The man, who conquered Delhi in 2015, shocked the Indian political establishment with his victory in Delhi Assembly elections with an unprecedented 67 out of total 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly—something even the then rising political star Narendra Modi could not do despite winning the 2014 parliamentary elections.

Kejriwal, then, seemed to be not just a regional leader but appeared to be an emerging national alternative to Modi himself. Yet, the man seemed to have met his Waterloo in the Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD) election recently. Modi had his sweet revenge by leading the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win the Delhi local bodies election with a whopping 181 seats while Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was left trailing with only 47 out of total 272 municipal seats.

What a fall for a politician who promised to be the emerging political messiah of the poor as well as the hero of middle classes with his promise to sweep corruption from public life with his ‘broom’! He was left in the lurch in the recent municipal polls as hardly a few were willing to trust him on his own turf in Delhi; forget being the national alternative. Kejriwal is now struggling to keep his flock together as his party is caught defending itself against corruption charges. What made Kejriwal a hero in 2015 and then left him with virtually no takers is an interesting political story in itself.

Parallels with VP Singh

Kejriwal’s story, in fact, has a striking resemblance with late VP Singh, who too, very much like Kejriwal, emerged on the Indian political horizon in 1987 literally from nowhere and by 1989 completely outshone his then political rival Rajiv Gandhi. Singh even replaced Gandhi as the Prime Minister of India in 1989, within three years after he launched his anti-corruption campaign.

Both Kejriwal and Singh had climbed the political ladder riding the anti-corruption plank in their own prime time. Singh had successfully made corruption in the Bofors gun deal as a national issue to defeat Rajiv Gandhi while Kejriwal came to the limelight riding on Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption campaign against the Manmohan Singh government’s alleged corruption deals in 2011-13. Anti-corruption campaigns transformed both Kejriwal and Singh into the darling of the masses in their own time and propelled both of them to power in a very short time.

But, both Arvind Kejriwal and VP Singh began to fade in less than two years after assuming power. Because both had used the RSS for their own political games, forgetting that the RSS is the master of propping up dummies and then dumping them if they do not accept the Sangh’s dictates.

In fact, both Kejriwal and VP Singh were not from the RSS ranks but both used the Sangh to ride to power and later tried to outwit the Sangh soon after assuming power. Kejriwal had tagged with Anna Hazare as his principal aide at the famous Delhi Ram Lila Maidan where hundreds of thousands flocked to protest and sit in against the Manmohan Singh government’s alleged corruption deals in 2011-12.

India Against Corruption

It was the time when BJP was itching to take on the Congress in the 2014 parliamentary elections. Its mentor, the RSS, needed an issue to discredit the Congress party. Ever popping scams like telecom auction and coal mine auctions of the Manmohan Singh Government provided the much-needed fodder for Congress rivals, especially the BJP, to take on the then Manmohan Singh Government.

But, the BJP at this point of time was in a mess. Its tallest leader LK Advani was no longer a star politician who could inspire masses enough to propel the BJP to power. Besides, there was a trust deficit between the Sangh and the BJP leadership at that stage too. So, the Sangh took advantage of Anna Hazare’s movement demanding appointment of a Lok Pal as a watchdog against corruption.

Anna had the clean Gandhian image but no mass following. RSS backed Anna with its cadre as RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat later admitted, claiming: “We mobilised crowd for Anna.” But, Anna had to be sold to the middle classes first and then to the masses. Anna did not have enough gravitas that could attract middle classes or even masses in a big way. Arvind Kejriwal, with his IIT background and the Right to Information (RTI) victory to his boot, fitted well into a typical johla wala anti-establishment figure capable enough to win over hearts and minds of middle class which is ever ready to lap up any anti-corruption campaign.

Public figures like Kiran Bedi with her clean service record too chipped in to serve the same purpose. The masses were mobilised by the RSS which even pushed Vishwa Hindu Parishad to organise bhandara for the lakhs who assembled at Ram Lila maidan rallies. None other than the then VHP international president late Ashok Singhal claimed: “We organised bhandara for thousands daily.” The media with its 24/7 coverage too chipped in to popularise the Anna movement and Kejriwal along with it.

Ambitious Kejriwal managed to become the media’s darling at this stage. He also managed to outwit everyone else in the group to hog the limelight. By the time UPA government conceded Anna’s every demand on the Lok Pal Bill, Kejriwal was a leader in his own right. He was already the angry young man of Indian politics with the image of an anti-establishment hero, who could take on the high and mighty in political circles.

Delhi’s middle classes and masses both now loved him. It made Arvind Kejriwal think of his own political plans at this stage. He was at least a Delhi leader in his own right by now. He now began to dream of wearing the Delhi crown. Soon, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came into being with Kejriwal as its chief. Kejriwal’s AAP had now enough appeal to get out of both Anna and the Sangh’s shadow, which it did by taking on Modi in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections.

Kejriwal done in by the system

However, the establishment knows ways to rein in “rebels’ like Kejriwal, who become too big for their boots. Both Modi and the Sangh are much more seasoned players of the system than a political novice like Kejriwal.

Modi, taking advantage of Delhi governance rules—which give immense power to the office of Lieutenant Governor over the chief minister—completely throttled all Kejriwal’s plans to emerge as the new messiah of the poor in Delhi and then graduate to the national scene riding on his popularity in Delhi.

Except for his bijli-pani success, Kejriwal’s all big plans to do peoples’ welfare failed. Kejriwal was thus left being a leader who had nothing much to offer. His appeal began to fade. He soon started losing electoral battles in states like Punjab and Goa and finally met his Waterloo in Delhi MCD elections. Very much like VP Singh, who ditched BJP and Sangh with the OBC reservation and lost out to the establishment in less than a year in 1990, Kejriwal, too, was trapped in his own game by the system.

Arvind Kejriwal, the new rebel of Indian politics, has been outmanoeuvered by the system and is now on his way to fade out sooner than later. He neither has any great vision nor any big social or economic agenda to deliver except his emphasis on delivering utility government services like bijli-pani.

Kejriwal’s saga in Indian politics is thus virtually coming to an end with Narendra Modi doing a much better job for the Sangh than a dummy like Arvind Kejriwal whose utility appears to be now over.

Zafar Agha is the Editor-in-chief of Qaumi Awaaz, a sister publication of National Herald