JOIN USOut of the closet: A ‘kesariya’ Kejriwal
There is something eerie about a political leader demanding, officially, that a country’s currency notes be embossed with the pictures of Hindu deities. While we were wondering about subtleties like principles of secularism embossed in our Constitution, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal went a step further. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he reiterated the demand saying that with such holy measures, deities are likely to be placated and our pathetic economy will improve dramatically. Only a profound fool or an absolute charlatan can make such a proposition in the 21st century. One would like to believe that Kejriwal is not the former, for he went to the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, cracked the civil services examinations and has, since his entry to politics, exhibited considerable pragmatism to take over as Delhi Chief Minister thrice. So the question is, is he the latter? Or has his great desire to influence national politics made him a grave cynic, who is now seeking to upend the BJP’s chest-thumping mash-up of religious bigotry and political verbiage with his own brand of eye-popping demagoguery?
A quick recapitulation of some of Kejriwal’s locus in matters with a whiff of religious bent should give us a clue. Just ahead of Assembly elections in Delhi in 2020, he made a publicised visit to the Hanuman Mandir after reciting the chalisa; he and his party has maintained a deafening silence throughout the protests against the NRC-CAA; he did not visit the scenes of the February 2020 communal riots in Delhi, which were orchestrated within days of his return to power with thumping majority; his party has refrained from uttering even the slightest word of protest against the early pardon and release of Bilkis Bano’s rapists. Clearly, Kejriwal is keen to project himself as a redeemer in Indian polity’s volatile shift towards unrepentant majoritarianism. There is increasingly less and less fogginess about such a conclusion. The question is, why?
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Those who observe Indian politics closely have written about how the AAP’s grandstanding about civic welfarism and its brand of post-ideological politics was unsustainable beyond a point. It was always on the cards that the AAP, once it grows ambitious and crosses the civic boundaries of Delhi, would find it difficult to charter through the choppy political waters without a stand on issues which had an overtly religious and social character.
It managed to triumph on Punjab’s soil early this year, because the state was divided bitterly and rife with problems to which bigotry could not offer any balm. Also, we must remember, a blatant pitch for Hindu majoritarianism would not have worked in Punjab. But the narrative has changed colour as the ambitions have pitched a tent in Gujarat, a state where religion is a key to political power.
The serious demand for a currency that canvasses Hindu deities in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic modern nation-state must hence be studied seriously. To that end, are we to conclude that the AAP under Kejriwal has degenerated from offering a serious alternative to one, which thrives on prejudice? Kejriwal’s studied silences in an India rife with partisan rhetoric, Islamophobia and a political culture of vigilant retribution is tellingly pointing to it, for he has not just opened his mouth only to flatter the majority, but has gone a step ahead.
Or is he trying to send a message that the only tool against majoritarianism is majoritarianism itself? If yes, then it is indeed a move as poor as the former, for we have several historical (call it Orwellian) examples in Europe, including Stalinism, which, once the most formidable refuge against Fascism, had rotten to the core under the weight of its own contradictions.
By trying to be clever-by-half, Kejriwal seems to be thriving on an extended suspension of disbelief of its core voters. That impunity is unlikely to go on forever.
(The author is an academic and writer.)
AAP – ups and downs
2012
Aam Aadmi Party is born out of 2011 movement led by Anna Hazare for Jan Lokpal Bill. Vows to protect: Ancient India’s “composite culture”, Modern India’s “staunchly secular and liberal ideals”. Rejects: Majoritarianism in every form, rejects politics of appeasement and ‘vote bank’. Reposes firm belief in Constitution of India.
2013
Wins 28 of 70 seats in Delhi Assembly polls, Forms government with Congress’s support. Quits ruling coalition after 49 days.
2014
Pledges to end communal tension, riots in its manifesto for LS polls, Arvind Kejriwal loses to Narendra Modi in Varanasi, Only 4 of the party’s 432 candidates win.
2015
Wins 67 out of 70 seats in Delhi; Kejriwal returns as Delhi CM; Rift within party over allegation that party gave tickets to people with shady past; Kejriwal accused of being dictatorial by founding members Prashant Bhushan, Yogendra Yadav; Bhushan, Yadav and others expelled from the party.
2017
Loses to Cong in Assembly polls in Punjab.
2019
Contests for over 35, but wins only one seat in LS polls.
2020
Ambiguity on protest against Citizenship (Amendment) Act; Slams BJP for not clearing road blocked by protesters at Shaheen Bagh. Kejriwal says he would have cleared the road at Shaheen Bagh in hours. CM recites Hanuman Chalisa. Leads party to victory in Delhi Assembly polls in Delhi, winning 62 seats. Kejriwal visits Hanuman Temple. CM refrains from visiting the scene of communal clashes in Delhi. Kejriwal performs Diwali Puja at Akshardham Temple.
2021
Kejriwal offers prayers at Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya. Kejriwal performs Diwali Puja at Delhi’s Thyagaraj Sports Complex, where a replica of Ram Temple was built.
2022
AAP wins Assembly polls, comes to power in Punjab. The party accuses BJP of settling Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar in Delhi and of using them to trigger riots. Kejriwal raises ‘Jai Sri Krishna’, ‘Jai Sri Ram’ slogans in poll-bound Gujarat. AAP supremo says he is a staunch disciple of Lord Hanuman, was born on Janmastami. The party refrains from protesting release of rapists of Bilkis Bano in Gujarat. Kejriwal demands pictures of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha on currency notes.