As soon as the MCD By-Poll results were out, Kejriwal tweeted this:
“MCD ruled by BJP-Cong. Outsider AAP wins max seats in MCD by-election. Thnx Delhi for reaffirming faith. Ab MCD election mein sabhi seat jeetni hai (Need to win in MCD election too),”
The keyword of this outpouring was “Outsider”. What does Outsider mean? Dictionary.com defines Outsider as “a person who does not belong to a particular organization or profession.”
AAP trounced BJP in the assembly elections. Kiran Bedi’s political exile began before her political career could formally take off, all because of the virulent appeal of Kejriwal. BJP is inconsequential in Delhi. Kejriwal has been ruling Delhi (with an iron hand) from over a year now. That makes him very much a part of Delhi Politics.
Kejriwal may be a Hisar-wallah but the constitution of India doesn’t differentiate between office holders based on their birth places. Kejriwal has 3 MPs in Punjab and if their internal surveys are to be trusted, they are all set to win Punjab as well. That makes him a Punjab insider. Kejriwal has been voicing his opinion about every conceivable object under the sun. He talked about the JNU Row, He went to Hyderabad to stand for Rohith Vemula. He has voiced his opinions about different scams in the country, about BJP, about Modi’s Degrees. Kejriwal has been a very active member of the Indian Political setup which again makes him very much an insider.
Maybe Kejriwal was calling himself an outsider because this was AAP’s first MCD Elections and they performed reasonably well. But then again, how can a ruling party, with almost every assembly seat and a CM as charming as Kejriwal be alien to its municipal body? He was blamed for the MCD crisis in Delhi, about 7 months back, which attests to the fact that Kejriwal was accountable for the crisis which in turn attests the fact that directly or indirectly, Kejriwal was linked to MCD. Also, the Fiscal devolution in India is Centre -> States -> municipal bodies. Finances are distributed between Centre and States by Finance commission. Precisely for the same reason the Delhi High Court directed Kejriwal to clear the pending salaries of MCD employees. MCD may be an autonomous body but it is paid by State Expenditure. IAS doesn’t come under state government, but Paid by state Expenditure. It’s simple, you avail the services, you pay for it. Hence all theories lead to the fact that Kejriwal was and will be a part of MCD.
So why did he call himself an outsider? Here’s another theory:
Compare AAP’s performance in Assembly Elections Vs their performance in MCD By Polls.
AAP scored 29.9% of votes in the MCD Elections Vs. 54.2% in the Assembly elections. This means a loss of over 24 votes for every 100 votes casted. Compare this with their archrival BJP’s performance. BJP scored 34.11% of votes in MCD Elections Vs. 32.2% in the Assembly elections. This means a gain of almost 2 votes for every 100 votes casted. Of course BJP couldn’t convert its vote share into seats hence on the surface, AAP comes across as a winner. Maybe the ‘Outsider’ comment was to invalidate the effect of a dip in popularity ratings and a massive drop in vote share. “Outsider” gives them the debutant advantage. Maybe AAP still wants to live with their “Giant Killer” tag. The debutant era is long gone and the startling realities of Politics await them. Playing results down won’t help. They were lucky enough to convert their dismal vote share into seats but luck doesn’t last a lifetime.
