[Khurshid
has strenuously denied the allegations and told a television news channel that
Kejriwal was “worse than an insect, a snake that moves in gutters.” As tempers
rose, Khurshid was caught on camera last month apparently daring his accuser to
visit Farrukhabad and return home safely, warning that he had been given a pen
for his work as law minister but could also “work with blood.”]
By Simon Denyerand Rama Lakshmi
 |
| MANSI THAPLIYAL/REUTERS - From a shabby house in one of New Delhi's grimmest suburbs, Arvind Kejriwal, a mild-mannered former tax official has launched a salvo of accusations of corruption involving some of India's most powerful people, rocking the political establishment. |
Slightly
built and bespectacled, his checkered shirt loose and untucked, a white Gandhi
cap perched forward on his head, he sat on the stage listening to the other
speakers, his bare feet crossed under his body. Kejriwal cultivates the image
of the “common man.”
But
when he finally took the microphone, this tax
inspector-turned-activist-turned-politician made no bones about his grand
ambitions: to sweep away an entire political system in which corruption and
cronyism have become deeply embedded.
“We
are not here for power, we are here to change the political system,” he told a
crowd of thousands who had come from around the country to attend his political
debut in a small town in northern India. “We haven’t let the powerful enjoy a
good night’s sleep since we announced the formation of a political party. . . .
We will teach them a lesson in politics.”
Kejriwal
was the driving force behind the India Against Corruption
movement that brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets last
year, energizing
the country’s normally apathetic middle class to campaign for the creation
of a powerful anti-corruption ombudsman.
When
that movement seemed to fizzle out, Kejriwal emerged from a back-seat role
to form his own political party and, in a series of electrifying news
conferences, accused some of his country’s most high-profile figures of
corruption or cronyism.
His
targets have ranged from Robert Vadra, son-in-law of India’s most powerful
politician, Sonia Gandhi, to India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, head
of the Reliance business empire. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has not been
spared, nor has the leader of the country’s main opposition party, Nitin
Gadkari.
In
the process, this 44-year-old has gone where even India’s raucous media
normally fear to tread, taking
on the revered
Nehru-Gandhi family that has dominated this country’s politics since independence and exposing the nexus between big business and politics.
Nehru-Gandhi family that has dominated this country’s politics since independence and exposing the nexus between big business and politics.
“Our
country is very resource-rich. We have forests, mountains, rivers, oil and
gas,” Kejriwal said. “But corporates in collusion with politicians and
bureaucrats are looting this country. What is the real reason for rising
prices?”
His
campaign has won him millions of followers but also seen him threatened, jailed
and sued. Ruling party politicians have called him a gutter snake and an
opportunist, a self-serving megalomaniac with a Hitler streak, an anarchist and
a danger to democracy.
Each
of Kejriwal’s exposés is eagerly anticipated by the media and the subject of
frenzied speculation among the elite.
‘Worse
than an insect’
In
Farrukhabad, his target was Salman Khurshid, a former minister of law and
justice and a local member of Parliament whom Kejriwal accused of stealing
money meant for the disabled through a charity run by his wife.
One
by one, disabled men were lifted onto the stage. Many had the stick-thin limbs
typical of polio victims. Pieces of paper were brandished that, Kejriwal said,
proved that the men had been listed as receiving tricycle wheelchairs. One by
one, the men said they had received nothing.
Khurshid
has strenuously denied the allegations and told a television news channel that
Kejriwal was “worse than an insect, a snake that moves in gutters.” As tempers
rose, Khurshid was caught on camera last month apparently daring his accuser to
visit Farrukhabad and return home safely, warning that he had been given a pen
for his work as law minister but could also “work with blood.”
Last
week, Prime Minister Singh showed he had no time for the accusations, promoting
Khurshid to the post of foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle.
Vadra
and Reliance also have dismissed the allegations, and while there can be little
doubt that corruption is deeply entrenched in India, analysts say not all of
Kejriwal’s accusations would stand up in court.
Critics
accuse him of choosing too many targets at the same time and of moving from
issue to issue in a bid to remain at the top of the news agenda. The government
has challenged him to take his evidence to court.
But
Kejriwal insists it is the job of the authorities to investigate the
allegations, just as it would be if he had witnessed a murder outside his
house. This, he says, is a “street fight,” not a legal battle.
Attacking
business ethics
Kejriwal
still takes an early morning walk near his modest home in a New Delhi suburb,
without police protection, shrugging off the idea that his life could be in
danger.
“No
one can take away my life as long as God wants me here,” he said, speaking in
his car on his way to the rally.
The
move from activism into politics was particularly controversial, splitting the
India Against Corruption movement and leaving the man who had been its
figurehead, Anna Hazare, on the sidelines.
Kejriwal
admits that his new party is very weak organizationally and that he faces a
huge challenge mobilizing the rural poor, who often vote along caste or
community lines. Nor does the party have much of an agenda beyond the
anti-corruption message.
He
insists he is in favor of “ethical” business, but he has nothing good to say
about the reforms that unleashed two decades of rapid economic growth here.
“We
want to create conditions in our country where a businessman can actually lead
an honest life, and they can do honest business,” Kejriwal said.
While
Kejriwal has been mocked for trying to promote a rural idyll incompatible with
modern India’s aspirations, Pratab Bhanu Mehta of the Center for Policy
Research said his limitations are beside the point.
The
way politicians have blamed the messenger without going after the culprits
shows they still have not recognized the way the world has changed, Mehta said.
“India
is on an astonishing cusp: the tragedy is that politicians, for the most part,
are not running with the winds of change,” he
wrote in the Indian Express. “When a country’s power elite plays victim, it
is a sign that they have truly lost it.”
Suhasini
Raj contributed to this report.
By Chandan Wadhwa:
The hue and cry of the common
man resonating in the corridors of the parliament and on every media channel is
no longer a myth. The situation has trended from bad to worse as the policies
of the ruling government have adversely affected the ‘aam aadmi’. Since
the dawn of liberalisation in 1991, India, its people and the economy have
undergone a series of changes. The GDP measure has been on a rise, up until
now. A plethora of Indian businesses are competing to be the best in offering
goods and services to customers worldwide. Thus, India is thriving globally in
free-market economy. Amidst all this commotion, one thing which has remained
oblivious to these mega achievements is ‘State of Indian Politics’
which remains mired in decadence.
Politics by virtue itself
carries a bad name as the common man’s mindset is such that they directly
correlate corruption with politicians and the unravelling of multi crore scams
in the public domain has just acted as a catalyst. From Gadkari to Rahul Gandhi,
nobody can claim themselves to be absolutely clean. Thus these revelations in
the field of politics have reached the acme of people’s patience and have poked
every individual out of their sleep to raise their voices against corruption.
Indian politics is still
hierarchical and the feudal mind-set is predominant and merit is relegated to
the background. The election season is almost here and various political
parties are on their toes to lure the voters to vote in their favour by
promising freebies to various groups of voters during elections- power,
interest-free loans, televisions, laptops and tablets to students, reservations
etc. It is an endless list. These might create an aura of bliss and raise the
expectations from these parties but none of them care to communicate about the
recourses via which they can keep their promises. Thus the same old story
continues and the lack of innovation in the political arena has been haunting
India for nearly two decades. The need to change is long due and young India is
waiting for this to materialise.
Politics and politicians must
align their ideologies to meet the rising economic aspirations of the country.
Gone are the days of bogus promises and lethargy and political discourse is
transforming from the age old themes of social justice, reservation and
secularism to social and infrastructure development, job creation and
prosperity. The concerns of modern day India are predominantly economic and
lifting millions out of poverty will be major precipice in the coming decades.
In the purview of Indian
political system it wouldn’t be wrong to get inspired by our American
counterparts in the same field. The American politics has been a far less mucky
affair than the Indian system. Obama’s election as President was based on hope
and change and he didn’t disappoint either. In the middle of the worst
financial meltdown, he managed to guide through testing situations. The
policies adopted and implemented by his government were pro people- from the
extension in child tax credits to the creation of international tax haven watch
– all these helped in improving the welfare of the state without many judicial
barriers and acting swiftly to cater to maximum beneficiaries.
India is in dire need to build a
consensus among various political parties on the most important tax reform- the
goods and services tax- and propose a transparent political funding process to
curb corruption. The recent reform blitz is just one side of the coin and a lot
of work still needs to be done for an inclusive development of the country.
Hence, it is imperative for the various political parties to explicitly
formulate a long-term reform agenda that offers a clear and definitive choice
to voters. Agriculture, land usage and education, to name a few state subjects,
require reforms by the state government. Transforming labour laws, speeding up
infrastructure development and tackling the ever ballooning subsidy bills comes
under the ambit of the central government. Thus proper coordination among both
the levels will help in integrating the society and responsible actions by the
individuals in power can minimize the loss to the nation and bring it back on
the healing path.
The post The Nation Bleeds And All That Our Politicians Do Is Watch
appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz: Mouthpiece for the Youth.
