Anarchy gets some Che
Guevara style makeover in India,
sans some of its elements
‘Yes, I am an
anarchist’ - Arvind Kejriwal proudly said it.
Others use more
subtle ways. They don’t say but keep on doing. Anarchy has been the way of many
of the Indian political establishments.
The rogue elements of
the Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party, the militant brand of politics
by the parties like Shiv Sena or MNS or the political elitism of every
political outfit in the country contribute to the political anarchy (the
democratic disorder) in the country.
Yes, they don’t proclaim
it openly. They are silent workers here.
Arvind Kejriwal and
his Aam Aadmi Party are the beginners in the Indian political scene. They have
gone political (from activism) to cleanse political of its malaise, to cleanse
the System.
Their political basis
has been anti-establishment. They have to do different things and they have to
do things differently.
But, with one month
of the chief ministerial office in Delhi
under their grab, they are looking pro-establishment.
Whatever be their
intent, on surface, they have to do things to looks different, and the need is
exacerbated even more.
So, with the
compulsion of ‘being and doing’ things differently, there might be a
possibility that some of them advised that the dent was already deepening and
AAP needed something different to reclaim the lost ground.
Now, what could
divert and reorient the public’s attention in a short span of time?
Agitations folks! And
who knows better than Arvind Kejriwal. After all, his political success comes
from the hugely successful anti-corruption movement of 2011. Then, he was apolitical. Then he was not in
the System.
Now, he is political.
Now he is part of the System that he is supposed to cleanse.
So, to do it
differently, the angry new entrant of Indian politics sought to reignite the sympathy
for the ‘anti-hero’ in the masses, by branding him ‘anarchist’.
Anti-hero anarchy has
been a populist theme throughout the world, across the sociopolitical theatres.
Okay, he didn’t do a
different thing. But at least, he could do it differently. Others do it but don’t
give the ‘anarchy’ its due. Arvind Kejriwal gave ‘anarchy’ its due by giving it
the name, by recognizing its populist appeal.