The sense of deja vu is inescapable. An anti-corruption crusader is in Tihar Jail, almost voluntarily. A crowd has swelled up outside gate no 3 to protest. Authorities have imposed Section 144 in an attempt to prevent any further protests. And other political parties are passing off the events as mere drama.
Yet the differences are telling.
Wednesday was not the first time Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal got a glimpse of the inside of Tihar. That came two years ago, when – at least for the public – Kejriwal was just the chief lieutenant to activist-leader Kisanlal Baburao Anna Hazare.
On a wet August morning in 2011, Kejriwal and Hazare were picked up by the Delhi Police after they had announced their intention to carry out a fast in Delhi’s JP Park without official permission. As hundreds of Anna supporters began to turn up at the park, only to be packed away into buses and taken to the outskirts of the city, the police first took Kejriwal and Hazare to a special magistrate and – after it was clear that they were insisting on carrying out their agitation – moved them to Tihar.
Immediately, gate no 3 turned into the site of a protest. The few AAP leaders still free began to talk of “Emergency-like conditions”. WIthin 12 hours, news emerged that the authorities were ready to release Hazare. But the septuagenarian refused to go, until given unconditional permission to carry out his fast (Kejriwal was released after one night in the jail). Hazare had already become something of a martyr after being detained by the police. By refusing to leave the prison and putting the onus on the authorities, he had turned the tables entirely.
On Wednesday, Kejriwal tried to do something similar, making an attempt to force the judicial hand.
Accused of defamation after calling former Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari one of India’s “most corrupt”, a metropolitan magistrate had asked the AAP chief to put up a bail bond of Rs 10,000. He refused.
“The accused is adamant that he shall not even furnish his personal bond undertaking,” the court said in its order. “He had stated that he shall prefer to go to jail than seek bail or furnish bail bonds.” And to jail he went, with the party mobilising its workers to turn up at the prison gate a few hours later, where they protested until the police used physical force to clear the area.
Both these incidents were, in effect, voluntary spells in prison – yet the atmosphere was completely different.
In 2011, Hazare and Kejriwal had been picked up by the police and put in detention. This time around the AAP chief practically walked himself into the prison. When Hazare went behind bars, there was a clear sense of injustice that he was able to leverage: the police had refused to give permission to the agitation of a popular movement. For Kejriwal, the only injustice was that he was being asked to deposit a routine bail bond.
Most importantly, it remained unclear who this recent agitation was against. “Nitin Gadkari chor hai! (Nitin Gadkari is a thief)” and “BJP hosh mein aao! (Wake up, BJP)” were the slogans that dominated the crowd, but neither Gadkari nor the BJP are in power yet, and neither were responsible for Kejriwal’s detention.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh, sitting outside gate 3, seemed to aim his sights at the judiciary. “Bail was not asked for in other defamation cases, why so now?” The party also put out a statement calling the magistrate’s decision “erroneous”.
Once the police had announced the imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 and started to drag AAP supporters kicking and screaming away from the prison gate, Yogendra Yadav – who himself had to be physically lifted into the police bus – took aim at the cops. “You can see what is happening to us, how we’re being manhandled.”
By the looks of it, the AAP revolution is still ongoing. But it has lost its villain.
Until just a few months ago, this problem had a very simple solution: the Congress. All along, the AAP had the distinctive whiff of a made-for-TV movement – summarised perfectly by the answer given by an Aaj Tak anchor to Kejriwal in a discussion after the conclusion of an interview that was later leaked. “Krantikari, bahut krantikari (revolutionary, very revolutionary),” the anchor said, in words that went viral and became permanently attached as a sort of cynical take on the AAP’s approach.
But back then the anger against the Congress’ corruption was genuine, and the party was able to tap into it effectively. Now the Congress is gone, replaced by a Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party regime that leveraged some of the anti-Congress anger stoked by Kejriwal to achieve its resounding electoral victory.
This leaves the AAP in a difficult place. Its underwhelming performance in the polls, at least per expectations pronounced by Kejriwal, only reinforces the made-for-TV image – as does this report that the party got the most disproportionate amount of media coverage compared to its electoral influence.
More importantly, the party’s claim of simply amplifying the voice of the people has been blunted by the overwhelming mandate handed to the BJP. How does an internal AAP survey showing support matter if all seven of its candidates in Delhi lost by more than a lakh votes to BJP candidates, or if its chief Arvind Kejriwal lost to the PM-designate in Varanasi? Is there a better referendum than a popular election?
Before the court drama on Wednesday, Kejriwal apologised to the people for having stepped down after forming the government in Delhi. “Though we had resigned on moral grounds after our government’s proposal to introduce the Janlokpal bill in the Delhi assembly was defeated, but our decision was misinterpreted. Therefore, we apologise to the people for this judgmental error.”
He went on to explain that the party was no longer trying to form the government, and instead would be looking ahead to fresh polls. Kejriwal even enumerated the party’s primary platform. “Over the next seven-10 days, we will hold meetings all over Delhi and will take our apology to the people and begin preparations for seeking a fresh mandate to resume the relief of cheap electricity and free water to the people, apart from providing a corruption-free administration.”
Electricity and water were the issues that propelled the AAP to power the first time around, but only with the help of the anti-Congress wave. Bereft of that, at least in Delhi, they turn into just another party yelling about bijli and pani. The BJP, with Modi at the helm, has taken the space vacated by the AAP as the party with something fresh to offer. Perhaps it’s no wonder Kejriwal is returning to the site of Anna’s most successful protests.
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Yet the differences are telling.
Wednesday was not the first time Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal got a glimpse of the inside of Tihar. That came two years ago, when – at least for the public – Kejriwal was just the chief lieutenant to activist-leader Kisanlal Baburao Anna Hazare.
On a wet August morning in 2011, Kejriwal and Hazare were picked up by the Delhi Police after they had announced their intention to carry out a fast in Delhi’s JP Park without official permission. As hundreds of Anna supporters began to turn up at the park, only to be packed away into buses and taken to the outskirts of the city, the police first took Kejriwal and Hazare to a special magistrate and – after it was clear that they were insisting on carrying out their agitation – moved them to Tihar.
Immediately, gate no 3 turned into the site of a protest. The few AAP leaders still free began to talk of “Emergency-like conditions”. WIthin 12 hours, news emerged that the authorities were ready to release Hazare. But the septuagenarian refused to go, until given unconditional permission to carry out his fast (Kejriwal was released after one night in the jail). Hazare had already become something of a martyr after being detained by the police. By refusing to leave the prison and putting the onus on the authorities, he had turned the tables entirely.
On Wednesday, Kejriwal tried to do something similar, making an attempt to force the judicial hand.
Accused of defamation after calling former Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari one of India’s “most corrupt”, a metropolitan magistrate had asked the AAP chief to put up a bail bond of Rs 10,000. He refused.
“The accused is adamant that he shall not even furnish his personal bond undertaking,” the court said in its order. “He had stated that he shall prefer to go to jail than seek bail or furnish bail bonds.” And to jail he went, with the party mobilising its workers to turn up at the prison gate a few hours later, where they protested until the police used physical force to clear the area.
Both these incidents were, in effect, voluntary spells in prison – yet the atmosphere was completely different.
In 2011, Hazare and Kejriwal had been picked up by the police and put in detention. This time around the AAP chief practically walked himself into the prison. When Hazare went behind bars, there was a clear sense of injustice that he was able to leverage: the police had refused to give permission to the agitation of a popular movement. For Kejriwal, the only injustice was that he was being asked to deposit a routine bail bond.
Most importantly, it remained unclear who this recent agitation was against. “Nitin Gadkari chor hai! (Nitin Gadkari is a thief)” and “BJP hosh mein aao! (Wake up, BJP)” were the slogans that dominated the crowd, but neither Gadkari nor the BJP are in power yet, and neither were responsible for Kejriwal’s detention.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh, sitting outside gate 3, seemed to aim his sights at the judiciary. “Bail was not asked for in other defamation cases, why so now?” The party also put out a statement calling the magistrate’s decision “erroneous”.
Once the police had announced the imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 and started to drag AAP supporters kicking and screaming away from the prison gate, Yogendra Yadav – who himself had to be physically lifted into the police bus – took aim at the cops. “You can see what is happening to us, how we’re being manhandled.”
By the looks of it, the AAP revolution is still ongoing. But it has lost its villain.
Until just a few months ago, this problem had a very simple solution: the Congress. All along, the AAP had the distinctive whiff of a made-for-TV movement – summarised perfectly by the answer given by an Aaj Tak anchor to Kejriwal in a discussion after the conclusion of an interview that was later leaked. “Krantikari, bahut krantikari (revolutionary, very revolutionary),” the anchor said, in words that went viral and became permanently attached as a sort of cynical take on the AAP’s approach.
But back then the anger against the Congress’ corruption was genuine, and the party was able to tap into it effectively. Now the Congress is gone, replaced by a Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party regime that leveraged some of the anti-Congress anger stoked by Kejriwal to achieve its resounding electoral victory.
This leaves the AAP in a difficult place. Its underwhelming performance in the polls, at least per expectations pronounced by Kejriwal, only reinforces the made-for-TV image – as does this report that the party got the most disproportionate amount of media coverage compared to its electoral influence.
More importantly, the party’s claim of simply amplifying the voice of the people has been blunted by the overwhelming mandate handed to the BJP. How does an internal AAP survey showing support matter if all seven of its candidates in Delhi lost by more than a lakh votes to BJP candidates, or if its chief Arvind Kejriwal lost to the PM-designate in Varanasi? Is there a better referendum than a popular election?
Before the court drama on Wednesday, Kejriwal apologised to the people for having stepped down after forming the government in Delhi. “Though we had resigned on moral grounds after our government’s proposal to introduce the Janlokpal bill in the Delhi assembly was defeated, but our decision was misinterpreted. Therefore, we apologise to the people for this judgmental error.”
He went on to explain that the party was no longer trying to form the government, and instead would be looking ahead to fresh polls. Kejriwal even enumerated the party’s primary platform. “Over the next seven-10 days, we will hold meetings all over Delhi and will take our apology to the people and begin preparations for seeking a fresh mandate to resume the relief of cheap electricity and free water to the people, apart from providing a corruption-free administration.”
Electricity and water were the issues that propelled the AAP to power the first time around, but only with the help of the anti-Congress wave. Bereft of that, at least in Delhi, they turn into just another party yelling about bijli and pani. The BJP, with Modi at the helm, has taken the space vacated by the AAP as the party with something fresh to offer. Perhaps it’s no wonder Kejriwal is returning to the site of Anna’s most successful protests.
