Arvind Kejriwal had stormed into power in Delhi almost a couple of years ago riding on a set of lucrative promises lacking pragmatism. He somehow managed to convince the Delhiites that he would fulfill all his promises. As the Delhi Government failed to fulfill most of its promises and in most cases failed to even take steps towards fulfillment, Kejriwal’s political standing went for a toss to the extent that he is totally dependent on political trickery and cheap publicity now.
If 2015 was the year in which Kejiwal’s extraordinary popularity in Delhi and parts of Punjab faded down on account of poor performance, 2016 was the year which completely exposed a power hungry CM who could go on the extent of deserting his electorate just like he had deserted his anti graft leader before he entered the arena of electoral politics. Faced with severe criticism for misgoverning Delhi and ineffective administrative policies, Kejriwal decided to intensify his politics of trickery, personal attacks, shoot and scoot, etc.
The supreme leader of the ‘party with a difference’ thus resorted to the overused diversionary tactics. This article focuses on specific events from this year where Kejriwal’s personal and political ambitions came in way of Delhi’s governance and how Kejriwal completely disowned his electorate. We also take a look into how the CM ended up being badly exposed as regards the appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries which even though in violation of Constitutional provisions was defended by Kejriwal by giving lame excuses of similar appointments in other States.
Punjab and Goa Elections:
It is one thing to campaign for State Elections and hold occasional rallies but to forgo all administrative and governmental obligations for the purposes of fulfilling political and personal obligations is a clear betrayal of the electoral mandate. Kejriwal has done exactly this; he has betrayed the mandate of the public of Delhi. There were several instances in 2016, when Kejriwal chose to give up all his Constitutional duties for the purpose of furthering his political ambitions in the States of Punjab and Goa with an eye on the upcoming elections. In fact, in the September month of this year when Delhi was reeling under excessive rains along with vexatious litigation being pursued by the AAP Government against the Centre, Kejriwal was busy campaigning in the state of Punjab. While Arvind Kejriwal had the time to malign the Prime Minister in Gujarat and poison the minds of the residents of PM Modi’s home state, he rarely found any time to delve into the governance related issues of Delhi. Moreover, the dereliction is not confined to the CM alone and there were times when almost all the Cabinet Ministers of Delhi went into party mode without a track of how their state was faring.
When political vendetta took a center stage:
For Delhi, this year was filled with rhetorical political remarks by their CM without a hint of any governmental accountability and answerability. The year was all about creating political controversies and trying to take benefit of their ramifications as far as Arvind Kejriwal is concerned. Whether it was the PM Modi’s degree controversy when Kejriwal as always made a serious allegation as regards the Prime Minister’s educational qualifications without an iota of evidence to take away public attention from his failures or his trademark potshots at the bureaucrats especially the continuous allegations of bias against the administrative head of the State without any regards towards the constitutional importance of the post held by the then Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung which finally forced the honourable to call it a day.
But Kejriwal was yet to show his true colors. His political character and intent stood exposed even as the once anti corruption activist led or in fact initiated the political protests against a landmark reform called demonetization. Kejriwal decided to give it his everything to support the corrupt and somehow minimize the political damage to him that the bold move may entail. Kejriwal now took on to manufacturing demonetization tragedies out of thin air, allege the scheme to be an 8 lakh crore scam without any explanation leave alone a satisfactory one and making failed attempts to incite public outcry against the move.
Association with Communal and anti National forces:
In a year where every isolated incident in any corner of India was somehow linked with communal or caste hatred and ultimately the BJP and the PM by the Opposition were held responsible for it no matter how trivial and unreasonable such allegations may be, Arvind Kejriwal never left an opportunity arising in the form of a tragic death go in vain. In a way, he can be said to be one of the inventors of politicization of deaths and tragedy tourism. What started with unnecessary political visits to Dadri after a tragic death was taken on to a next level by Arvind Kejriwal. Whether it was the Rohith Vemula suicide case, the suicide by an Army veteran allegedly due to non implementation of OROP in Delhi who actually happened to have a wholly personal pension dispute or any deaths during the operation of the Demonetization scheme Kejriwal made sure that every single tragedy throughout the length and breadth of India was somehow fabricated and used for political purposes even though Kejriwal was least bothered about the trouble caused by Chikanguniya and Dengue in the National Capital.
This year also saw a leader who claims himself and his party to be the future leaders of the Nation associating himself and more often than once coming to the rescue of those who were involved in anti National activity. It all started with the most unfortunate JNU incident when Kejriwal went all out against the Centre in a bid to make sure that those inciting hatred against India and making desperate attempts to break it up are not brought to justice. Thereafter, Kejriwal like any other anti Modi political leader felt shivers down his spine after the PM took one of the boldest moves to do with Pakistan what his predecessors should have done long back. Initially, Kejriwal marked a departure from his typical anti Modi statements but thereafter he chose to act like a Pakistani spokesperson instead of doing what a statesman should have done. He started to ask for proof of the surgical strikes which had been officially declared by the Indian Army in a failed attempt to embarrass the Nation and its military establishment.
Quashing of Parliamentary Secretaries:
This landmark political event of the year has certainly been underreported by the mainstream media. The Delhi High Court ruling declaring the Lt. Governor as the administrative head of the National Capital Territory of Delhi and consequential quashing of the controversial order appointing 21 AAP MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries who hold a rank equivalent to that of a Minister in grave violation of Article 239AA which allows a maximum of ten percent of the total MLAs to be appointed as Ministers given that the total strength of Delhi’s legislative assembly stands at seventy. Thus, the Hon’ble Delhi High Court’s judgment not only cleared the air as far as the position of the Lt. Governor of Delhi is concerned but also finally held as invalid the appointment of the Parliamentary Secretaries which also happened to have been appointed without the consent of Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung.
Conclusion:
Holding political ambitions and expanding party cadres is no sin in a multiparty system but Kejriwal is a peculiar politician for the way in which he has given up all his Constitutional obligations and works solely for his own betterment. In 2015, he at least made political excuses for his administrative failures, however unreasonable and absurd those excuses may be but in 2016 he has grown into an unabashed and arrogant politician who no longer cares about what his electorate thinks for him as he is busy exploring States with greater political relevance. 2016 has thus badly exposed Arvind Kejriwal