Arvind Kejriwal is clear that he will not help any party form a government if there is a hung assembly in Delhi. He would prefer a repoll

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided that in case the election in Delhi produces a hung assembly, it will not take the support of the Congress or the BJP nor will it provide assistance to either to form a government. It is also gearing up to participate in the next year’s Lok Sabha election, but will wait till the outcome of the Delhi assembly election before deciding on the number of seats to contest.

These disclosures were made by Arvind Kejriwal, in whose ramshackle Wagon R this writer hitched a ride, as he hopped from one constituency to another in the sprawling metropolis of Delhi. Sitting in the front, he spoke with clarity and felicity even as he kept waving at people who, on recognising him, would show him the thumbs-up sign.

Kejriwal said he is confident of AAP winning the election to the Delhi Assembly, due in December, but in case no party manages to secure a majority, he would prefer a repoll.

“We will not take the support of anyone nor will we support anybody. This is because those who will vote for us will be voting against the Congress and the BJP. They will be voting against the existing political establishment, against the current political practices. To take their support or to support them would mean cheating the people voting for us. We will never do that,” he explained.

Kejriwal said he would adhere to this position even to the extent of Delhi being denied a government, thus leaving no option but to have a repoll.

In case of a hung Assembly, he said, “Let both the Congress and the BJP take the help of each other to form a government. Behind the scenes, anyway, both the Congress and BJP are together. But in case that doesn’t happen, there would be a repoll. We are confident of getting a sweeping majority in a repoll.”

Should AAP win the Delhi assembly election, of which Kejriwal is confident because of the recent opinion surveys that party member and noted psephologist Yogendra Yadav has conducted, he intends to treat the victory as a stepping stone to enter the national electoral arena.

“If we win in Delhi, and I am sure we will, then in the first two months of our governance, we will do things that people wouldn't have even dreamt of. That would create a huge positive political energy in the country,” Kejriwal said.

In case AAP fails to win a majority, then it is likely to contest a fewer number of Lok Sabha seats than being envisaged currently.

As to what AAP intends doing in the first two months of its governance, Kejriwal said, “We are very confident of passing the Jan Lokpal Bill in the first 15 days of being sworn-in. We will try to see whether it is possible for the Delhi assembly to pass the Bill in Ramlila Maidan.”

His other plan is to decentralise political power.

“We will ensure that most of the executive decisions are taken by people themselves through participation in mohalla sabhas all across Delhi. They will have control over funds, functions and functionaries,” he said.

Kejriwal hopes these measures would fire the imagination of people, through a glimpse of what real democracy is.

“Election is not democracy,” he said. “What democracy means is that after election, people should be able to participate in decision-making over the next five years and the decisions thus taken should be implemented by politicians and bureaucrats. That is democracy.”

In other words, he hopes the measures of an AAP government would transform the country’s mood and provide the people hopes of breaking the old mould of representative democracy.

It is rare for the top leader of a party, particularly of a fledgling formation, to contest against a political heavyweight such as Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, against whom Kejriwal is contesting. Why did he choose to fight against her?

“Because she is a symbol of corruption,” he said. “The whole of Delhi wants to defeat Sheila Dikshit. But you don’t have faith in the BJP. Both the Congress and the BJP are in bed together, they have a relationship of husband and wife. The BJP has been deliberately putting up weak candidates against her so that she wins. This time too, the BJP would put up a weak candidate against her. And because she has to be defeated, I decided to stand against her.”

He said his entry into politics has changed him as a person. For one, he has come to realise the hard work politicians have to put in to get elected.

“I know after the election they don’t do anything but loot the country… I wish they had been working honestly and sincerely. We wouldn't have been needed then.”

He said politics has also taught him that a political party, unlike a civil city group, can’t have an exclusivist agenda and must appeal to a large section of people comprising the poor, the middle class, and even the rich. In contrast, he said, a civil society group usually “fights for one or two issues. In this sense, it has been a great learning experience.”

The feisty AAP leader insists his entry into electoral politics was a logical step to his anti-corruption campaign.

“We exposed Robert Vadra, they didn’t take action. Now we will fight election, and we will take action against him. Vadra, Salman Khurshid, Nitin Gadkari… all these people, they ought to go to jail,” Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal believes both the Muslims and Dalits, despite the intellectuals among them expressing reservations about AAP’s credentials, have been joining them in substantial numbers. As far as Muslims are concerned, he thinks they are joining AAP as a reaction to the betrayal of the Congress, which has given them nothing other than two reports – the Prof Gopal Singh committee report in 1981 and then the Justice Sachar report in 2007. Both these reports reached the same conclusions, through different statistics, about their socio-economic status.

Equally significant, he said, is the fact that Muslims have begun to have faith in AAP’s sincerity and its capacity to defeat the BJP.

Both conditions are, therefore, being fulfilled. Firstly, they feel they are safe with the Aam Aadmi Party, and that it has acquired the political strength to defeat the BJP,” he said.

The AAP leader is deeply concerned over the possibility of Gen VK Singh joining the BJP, saying people will lose faith in individuals who fight against corruption.

“Gen Singh has been talking against corruption…People actually believed in him. Now if he were to join the BJP, they would ask: Of all the parties, he found the BJP to be the honest party? Did he speak out (against corruption) only to create an atmosphere for getting a place in the BJP? Ordinary people will begin to start doubting every person who speaks out against corruption. Even I will lose faith.”

The full text of the interview can be read at http://indiaopines.com/interview-arvind-kejriwal/

The author is a Delhi-based journalist, and can be reached at ashrafajaz3@gmail.com