I was checking my Quora app the other day and found this interesting question:
Why don’t people vote for Kejriwal when AAP is the only party without corruption? Right below it was a thoughtful answer. The author of the answer compared Arvind Kejriwal , the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party with the Batman of DC Comics. Surprised?
Here is what the answer said:
Because we are nothing better than the citizens of Gotham City and are eager to prosecute our Batman.
Confused? Let me explain.
The streets of Gotham were full of scum, rouges and criminals. People suffered, yet did nothing because of fear.
Then came Batman.
He took on the scum, made the city a better place, he gave people hope. People were happy that the scum is getting reduced.
Then came Joker.
He was worse. He made the mobs pee in their pants. He killed without reason. He was Evil in every-way. But when the Joker wanted Batman’s head, people wanted the head of Batman. The very people for whom Batman fought. Did they not know that Joker was evil? Did they not know that Batman is their only hope? Did they not know with Batman gone, there would be no one to protect them against Joker? They knew all this, yet they wanted Batman to surrender. Why?? They were comfortable with the mob’s existence.
They were now dependent on the system and Batman is the enemy tending to destroy that system. And when Joker wanted to destroy Batman, they were more than willing to be a part of it.
Now coming to the reference to India: The system was corrupt, politicians were ruling, crime is going un-punished, people lost hope. The ones who tried to fight against crime, corruption were being prosecuted. People suffered in silence as they feared the consequences.
Then came Kejriwal.
He gave hope, started fighting crime in its own fortress. People rallied behind him, not because they loved him but because they needed him. When the Congress was decimated, destroyed beyond repair, and they had to choose between BJP and AAP, they choose to be on BJPs side.
Don’t they know that BJP is similar to Congress on many aspect? Don’t they know that BJP’s RSS agenda would do more damage than congress? They did. Yet they choose to rally behind BJP and mock Kejriwal.
Why?? They were comfortable with the existing system.
To quote The Shawshank Redemption:
First you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them. People did not want a change in the system, they were dependent on it. They don’t need politicians who can talk sense, they need the ones who can spread hatred. They don’t need corruption to be removed, they want it to be streamlined.
In Joker’s words:
They need you right now, but when they don’t, they’ll cast you out, like a leper! You see, their morals, their code, it’s a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. This is what the country proved to Kejriwal. We cast him out, mocked him and made a person who left his high perk job to fight for the people look like a fool.
After reading this answer, one could get a better understanding, much like I got, as to how politics and corruption are related to one another. Previously, I use to be of the opinion that Arvind Kejriwal foolishly gave up his much responsible post of being the Chief Minister of the NCT Delhi, after failing to table the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Delhi Assembly. He blamed the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party for stalling the proceedings of the anti-corruption legislation. He later regretted his act of resigning as the CM of Delhi saying that he could not realize what the people of Delhi expected of him. And he also promised that if he rises to power again in the future, he will not resign, under any circumstances.
One can easily attribute this act of Kejriwal to him being novice, which he himself admitted of. He declared that he would not contest the Lok Sabha general elections 2014. But he contested, stating that his party cadres compelled him to change his mind. It was fine until he decided to contest from Varanasi, the place from which Narendra Modi, the face of the BJP and the prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Arvind Kejriwal clearly saw the Modi wave coming. He also understood the fact that the voters of the nation were not pleasant with what he did to Delhi. Yet, he strongly believed that people would give him a second chance. He had a good conviction. But conviction for a politician is like a whip in the hands of a bad Lion tamer in a circus. Safe so long as the Lion doesn’t recognize that the tamer is indeed a novice one. The Lion , I mean, in this context, the voters decided that they shall not be ruled by an inexperienced, unstable and unpredictable politician despite he being born out of a nation-wide revolution against corruption, and standing his ground to provide governance free of corruption, the same promise which he made to the Delhiites, in his rup up to becoming the CM of Delhi.
If you think I am writing all this about Arvind Kejriwal to prove his political immaturity or that his conviction was wrong, read till the end. I am neither a hater of AAP nor a supporter of any other political party. I support good, transparent and corruption free governance, no matter who provides it. Apropos of corruption free governance, the quote from the Shawshank redemption: “First you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them. ” is what rightly describes the current condition of the people of our country. Yes, people don’t want corruption to be removed. They want it to be streamlined. Not ready to accept it yet? Let me give you an example.
If you are riding a bike without your helmet on and are stopped by the traffic police constable, you would be fined to an amount of, for the example sake, say, 500 bucks. The next thing anyone would do is to ask, sorry, beg the constable for a cheaper challan. If the constable is strict and stubborn, you have got nothing to do but to pay the fine and take the receipt for it, which is usually the costlier process. On the other hand, if the constable is corrupt, he would ask you to pay, say, 200 bucks and leave, without a receipt.
Now, question is: if the constable asks you to pay a lesser fine, which he takes as a bribe, and asks you to leave without a receipt, would you be happy to do as he asks you to do or would you stand there in protest, asking him to write a receipt and pay the fine in full amount? Answer to yourself. If you chose the latter, I salute you; the country needs more people like you. But if you chose the former, that is what is called streamlining of corruption. Preferring short and illegal settlements to long and legal settlements. People like this concept more than they like the concept of removal of corruption.
Back to our story, whatever Arvind Kejriwal did by resigning as the CM of Delhi was obviously fatuous but with the best intentions of delivering the people that version of the Jan Lokpal bill which would benefit the nation to the fullest extent possible. I conclude by envisaging the fact that as long as there are people who are ready offer bribes for the want of happening of things smoothly, there are politicians and bureaucrats who are ready to accept your bribe, whom you would later tag as ‘Corrupt’, as if you are not. As long as there are people in India who prefer streamlined corruption to removal of corruption, India doesn’t need a politician like Arvind Kejriwal.
P.S.
I love this quote:
They need you right now, but when they don’t, they’ll cast you out, like a leper! You see, their morals, their code, it’s a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They’re only as good as the world allows them to be. I’ll show you. When the chips are down, these… these civilized people, they’ll eat each other.