To call Arvind Kejriwal the golden duck of Bharatiya politics is not a testament to his skills on the field of cricket, but the introduction of ‘zero credibility and zero impact’ by the former Delhi Chief Minister. Not many Chief Ministers and their parties have had the audacity to go back to the public for a mandate after failing them for two consecutive terms, but Kejriwal is an exception.
Kejriwal and the concept of zero, as imagined by the great Aryabhat, have a startling relationship. After more than a decade in politics, zero allegations made by Kejriwal have proven to be true; against any individual, and against any party. It is rather remarkable that Kejriwal continues to hog the media attention, despite offering nothing but noise for over a decade.
From pinning down Sonia Gandhi as the source of corruption in the final years of the Congress Government before 2014, Kejriwal was seen squealing before the grand old party for his political indulgences. It worked out in 2024, but not in 2019. The end result was zero across the seven parliamentary seats of Delhi.
For all the nuisance created by Kejriwal in the name of activism against corruption, including the protest before the Republic Day of 2014 where he proudly claimed to be an anarchist, Kejriwal ended his decade in Delhi with zero credibility.
From withdrawing the excise policy after an investigation was ordered, to not cooperating with the investigating agencies by dodging summons from the Enforcement Directorate, to finally getting arrested, Kejriwal’s legacy leaves a lot to be desired.
The generosity of the Supreme Court did usher a timely bail for Kejriwal, leaving him with enough days to campaign during the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, but both Congress and imaginary sympathy could not stop his political capital from being reduced to zero.
The ten years of Kejriwal have been about zero governance and limitless ‘whataboutery’. The party has excelled in the art of dodging critical issues of civic infrastructure, pinning the blame on the Centre, and where the Centre cannot be blamed, political incapacity (read lack of statehood) is cited.
On schools, it remains uncertain how Kejriwal’s education model serves the long-term interests of the children. The health clinics in the localities began with a lot of promise, but were derailed by the bureaucratic incapacity of the Kejriwal Government. The cringe hysteria around medical oxygen during the pandemic, staged by Kejriwal’s party, along with the fear-mongering on vaccines was witnessed by the world. The list is endless.
Kejriwal’s current equation with the Congress is also a testament to his zero credibility. In June 2024, they were inseparable on the seven seats in Delhi and ten seats of Haryana. Coming together in an alliance, both Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal were trying to extract whatever little value they could in the seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi. The experiment failed tremendously.
By October, the love was lost, as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) failed to grab the second spot in any assembly seat of Haryana. While Rahul Gandhi was seen to be accommodating towards the Kejriwal clan, the local Congress leaders read the room better, at least with respect to the AAP. Three months later, in Delhi Assembly, the parties have gone their separate ways. A temporary political symbiotic relationship gone horribly wrong.
The fallout will have consequences for Kejriwal alone, for Congress has nothing left to lose in Delhi. If anything, a double-digit vote share across the seventy seats will be a rare success for Rahul Gandhi’s party. Kejriwal, meanwhile, has no reasonable explanation before the voters of Delhi for his flip-flop policy against the Congress.
However, Kejriwal’s consistency in confrontation with the Lieutenant Governor has been conspicuous. No one knows why the party has been in perpetual conflict with the office of the LG for a decade, but their conflict with the Centre has adversely impacted governance in Delhi.
Go back to the times when the courts lambasted the Kejriwal Government for the delay in the allocation of funds for the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project, or the stubbornness of the party to not allow Central Government’s critical programmes to function in Delhi, including Ayushman Bharat, or the constant blame game that begins each time there is an excess or lack of power or water.
Delhi, being the national capital, and with its economic and strategic importance, deserves the double-engine Government. Confrontation has no short-term or long-term utility for the voters of Delhi, and instead, the focus should be on ensuring that the city becomes a trillion dollar economy in the ongoing decade.
With the National Capital Region now encompassing areas from three other states, the trillion-dollar GDP dream is not far-fetched for the voters of Delhi. Investment in infrastructure is already yielding results, while Kejriwal’s fiscal foolishness is leading institutions like the Delhi Jal Board towards debt and disaster. Better sense must prevail.
It is now up to the Delhi voters to choose between the two models of double engine Government. One, where development is prioritised under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the other, where the former Chief Minister is drawing inspiration from Robert Clive’s model of dual system of governance.
The current Chief Minister Atishi Marlena is no better than a pseudo Chief Minister, strategically promoted to take the heat. The position rests with her, but the power is elsewhere. An unfair deal for the voters of Delhi. Authority without accountability.
Engaging with Kejriwal’s spokespersons for over six years now across national television, I have witnessed nothing but contempt for common sense, disgust for logic and rationale, and an unexplained love for baseless allegations against every living cell in the grand universe. To be honest, beyond a point, it gets sickening, but bearing it for a year, it becomes laughable, like a frivolous footnote in the political trajectory of our country. The golden duck must go.
