Trail-blazers of honest and committed politics

Arvind Kejriwal has exploded like a time bomb on Indian political scene. His year-old political outfit, Am Aadmi Party (AAP) is perhaps the first such organisation to have formed a government, Kejriwal being the youngest chief minister of Delhi. With 28 seats won, the AAP however was initially reluctant to form the government because in the 70-seats Delhi assembly, the minimum requirement is 35 seats for a party to do so unilaterally. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got 32 seats, three short of the required and even with support from the two independent winners BJP could not form the government. So the support from the eight Congress-elect members proved crucial. Kejriwal had no intention of getting branded as a ruling party ally. This explains why he did not want to form the government at the state assembly of the Indian capital.
What is remarkable here is that the AAP has not only ousted the Congress but also spoiled the BJP's party. Now that the Congress will do everything in its power to stop the BJP from taking power at Delhi, it is more than ready to extend support to the AAP. All it is doing is in its own interests. So far the AAP has been riding on the wave of popular support because of its campaign against corruption. Anna Hazare who spearheaded the movement against corruption in India found more than an able chieftain in Kejriwal who himself is a trail-blazer in his fight against corruption. He left the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) in disgust because of the endemic corruption in the department.
A mechanical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, Kejrilal had won the Magsaysay Award for his campaign for the right to information. More recognitions have followed but a man of his calibre, who prizes honesty and commitment to the cause of common people above everything else, remains unaffected and unconcerned by those. His vision encompasses a society free of corruption. There lies the mystery behind the meteoric rise of a man with integrity and his nearly unknown party within so short a time. When it proved that there was no alternative to him for Delhi's top assembly job, he humbly accepted the post. But now he is making more news not for reasons powerful men and women do but for the opposite and yet endearing reasons.
The man has refused to live in the residence designated for the chief minister. Wonder of wonders, he has also refused security. A police contingent sent to provide security at his residence had to be withdrawn. He along with his five cabinet ministers has travelled by metro train to attend at the sworn-in ceremony. It may appear to many not accustomed to such a political culture as a political gimmick or stunt. But the president of Uruguay lives in his ramshackle farmhouse and gives away most of his incomes and also surrenders privileges. It is too early to say that Kejriwal is made of the same material. But by the look of it, it appears he might well set a completely different political culture rolling in India. At least the Indians, frustrated and disillusioned as they are, are looking for a change.
If the Indians see helplessly how corruption has eaten into the very vital of state machinery and social fabric, Bangladesh is equally aghast with such illegal practices in political and bureaucratic circles. This country loses, according to an estimate, two per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) growth each year to corruption. Those in the establishment here, irrespective of the nature of power matrix over the years, have so far failed to prove themselves clean. Sure enough, this country is in need of whistleblowers like Anna Hazare and Kejriwal. There could not be a more favourable condition for the emergence of such personalities than the one such a prolonged political impasse offers.