The
year 2014 was, perhaps, the second major watershed in post-independence India’s
political history after 1977. For many political scribes of the current
generation it will probably remain as the most memorable year of their career.
That many of them would, therefore, feel
the urge to chronicle it as ‘instant history’ – spawning a new “Read My Book’’
genre of Indian journalism – is quite understandable. Both Ashutosh’ and Saba
Naqvi’s books can be broadly classified under this category.
The
first, by Ashutosh – the journalist turned activist-politician and AAP leader -
has a wider sweep covering Narendra Modi’s incredible run to the Prime
Minister’s office and the parallel narrative on the rise of AAP and Arvind Kejriwal.
It is a flash-back or recap of events as they unfolded over 15 odd months –
filling in the missing bits from his reporter’s diary supplemented with insights
of an experienced political journalist.
Ashutosh
is candid in admitting, he conceived the book as a journalist but by the time
he finished it he had became a politician. Not surprisingly, the lines do get
blurred in-between. Thus, in a way, it is
also Ashutosh’ own journey from the sets of TV Studios to the amphitheatre of
politics. To his credit, Ashutosh doesn’t try to hide his political leanings and
the fact that he became personally close to Arvind Kejriwal and some of his
colleagues much before he joined AAP. On occasions he would even advise them on
how to tackle tricky media issues (revealing Kejriwal’s high degree of
dependence on and feeling of vulnerability to media). This, of course, raises
the question of how Ashutosh was able to maintain his objectivity and the
troubling issue of journalists consciously or unconsciously crossing the
professional line and becoming a part of the political game.
Ashutosh’
description and analysis of the transformation Chief Minister Modi to Prime
Minister Modi is riveting. Of course, it would be unrealistic to expect a
totally balanced perspective once he takes the plunge into real politics – but
it is for us readers to take it with, as they say in recipe books, a measure of
salt as per one’s (political) taste.
Ashutosh
clearly believes the outcome of the 2014 elections could have been very
different hadn’t Kejriwal scored a ‘self-goal’ by resigning as Chief Minister.
Indeed, as Ashutosh points out, many thought had Kejriwal continued as CM of Delhi
– AAP might have garnered enough seats in the Lok Sabha to play ‘King-Maker’
after the elections.
Ashutosh’
explanation of why he chose to leave journalism to join AAP is not very
convincing, He too repeats AAP’s favourite allegation about Modi’s nexus with
big business. But, by his own admission, there was no overt pressure from the
owners of the network he worked for to toe any particular political line.
Therefore, one cannot quite fathom why he was apprehensive about loss of
editorial freedom (any more or less than what he enjoyed through his career
till then).
If
Ashutosh’ was an ‘inside-out’ account of how AAP evolved within the larger
political churn in the country - Saba Naqvi could have easily named her book “The
Short Official History of AAP” or, by a stretch ‘’The Authorised Political
Biography of Arvind Kejriwal’’. Right
from the start it is abundantly clear that the ‘idea of AAP’ had captured her
imagination as did the charismatic (what some others may have found ‘enigmatic’’)
leadership of Arvind Kejriwal. At the same time, she makes no secret of her
deep distaste for whatever BJP under Narendra Modi stood for. The Congress in
any case had lost steam and direction. Even fringe parties like BSP no longer
had even a marginal utility in Delhi circa 2015. Therefore, for her AAP was not
just the best choice – but, perhaps, the only choice. Therein lies the rub.
Ms
Naqvi calls it a ‘’Reporter’s Book’’ and no doubt she assiduously followed
AAP’s evolution at every stage and each step – right from the days of Anna and
IAC (Indian Against Corruption) Rally in
Jantar Mantar. Through this journey she developed
strong links with members of AAP’s core-team – from whom she could glean intimate details of the
party’s inner workings. But, in doing so
it might appear – she dropped her guard and has been too uncritical and unquestioning
in her assessment. Outside, of AAP she plays-back very few voices of other
political denominations – certainly none which are critical of AAP or Kejriwal.
She does quote a few anonymous sources (mostly) of BJP but only to buttress her
own views.
Ms
Naqvi’s original proposition at the beginning of the book is ‘’AAP...moved on
principle of income groups, its focus clearly on class and not castes or
communities’’. Such a strategy is not borne out by AAP’s subsequent electoral
tactics. She attributes BJP’s success to getting ‘’first past the post’’ –
appealing to the middle class, richer sections of society and ‘’then getting a
small section of the poor’’ to vote for it – while AAP worked with a bottom up
the pyramid approach. However, many analysts felt AAP’s resounding success in
the 2015 Delhi Polls – at least partly - came from their mastering the
electoral arithmetic well.
Like
many – Ms Naqvi was impressed by AAP’s initial promise of ‘’No Lal Batti
(VIP)’’ culture. However, she doesn’t comment on the subtle change in position
- in their second term – when AAP Ministers are not averse to accepting the
frills and perks of office. She is easily touched by tokenism such as Kejriwal
breaking out into a song at his ‘swearing in’ or bringing his wife to the AAP
HQ, but is silent about Arvind Kejriwal’s perceived shift in style from being
‘’consultative’’ and ‘first among equals’ to the unquestioned leader (perhaps,
not ‘autocratic’ or a ‘supremo’ as some of his detractors accuse him of)
leader. In talking of AAP’s various innovative ideas of governance – such as
‘Participative Budget’ she doesn’t mention how Kejriwal went through the
motions of ‘Moholla Referendums’ before forming government in Delhi but forgot
to have similar public consultations before resigning.
Ms
Naqvi is happy to accept AAP is a ‘volunteer’ based party (not very different
from the cadres of Left parties or RSS Pracharaks) but workers also need to be
paid. One would have expected a conscientious reporter to dig a little deeper into
the controversies surrounding the funding of AAP. Equally, like Ashutosh, her accusations of collusion between big business (alleged
to own half of India media) and BJP/Modi are a bit sweeping. She talks about
Kejriwal taking on the rich and the powerful (read Ambani and Adani) but is
silent about the lack of follow-through, which gives the impression of a ‘shoot
and scoot’ strategy.
Ms
Naqvi very discerning in observing how Kejriwal changed the backdrop from
Bharat Mata to Gandhi between Jantar Mantar and Ram Lila Maidan – as he began
to distance himself from Anna. However, does not see a pattern (of using people
as props and then discarding them) in which Kejriwal jettisons Yogendra Yadav
and Prashant Bhushan as dead-weight. On the latter show-down, Ms Naqvi clearly
sides with Kejriwal, though to be fair she produces verbatim the exchange of
correspondence between the 2 camps. In her judgement – “Kejriwal’s critics
within the party would have been comfortable with..” a narrower win or even a
defeat as ‘’that would have given them greater leverage’. Ms Naqvi believes it
will be a minor blip in the history of AAP. She may well be correct.
Though
a tad bit too generous in saying Kejriwal combines ‘Gandhian piety’ with
‘pragmatic solutions’, she concludes - not having an ideological baggage (and
intellectual arrogance) liberates Arvind Kejriwal. She reminds us of the
dialogue from Sholay - ‘Loha lohe ko kaatta hai’ Only time will tell if AAP,
which she says is still ‘Work in Progress’ can redeem its promise of
alternative politics. – just like Ashutosh’ question, with a little bit of
temerity, which very few would dare ask – ‘how long will Modi last in his Chair
?’
PS:
The review would be incomplete without commenting about the brilliant writing
style of both the authors and excellent editing. In particular, Ashutosh’ book
makes a very gripping and racy read – showing he’s perhaps more comfortable
with long-form writing than 140 character tweets.
#Kejriwal #Aam Aadmi party #AAP #Saba Naqvi #Ashutosh #Modi #Narendra Modi
First Published in Business Today India @BT_India *
*Click here for: Unabridged version in BT Web-Edition
