A Veneer of Popular Choice

SOME YEARS AGO when Mayawati was hard put to account for the hoard of cash seized, she claimed her followers out of “their love and devotion for me” had given the money—all in small amounts without breaching the prevailing limit on anonymous cash donations. This led an enterprising commentator to do some quick sums. He concluded that for the BSP supremo’s claim to be tenable at least over a period of three years or more, three lakh people daily, including on national holidays and Sundays, ought to have donated the relatively “low amount” for it to total nearly to `400 crore.

But while Mayawati’s claim was still in the realm of possibility, what the Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal said the other day defies both exigencies of space and time. Forced to name its chief ministerial candidate in Punjab at the pain of virtual revolt by the contender, the AAP boss sought to mask compulsion by contriving to give it a veneer of popular choice. People were invited to phone-in or SMS their choice at a given mobile number, and the AAP chief ministerial candidate would be announced 72 hours later.

Now, even for a charade to sound convincing, you require a modicum of common sense. As someone soon pointed out, it was humanly impossible for one mobile number to receive and tabulate nearly four lakh voice calls and over seven lakh messages in a span of 72 hours. Clearly, the entire exercise was meant to hoodwink people. Kejriwal’s reluctance to name Bhagwant Mann the chief ministerial face had stemmed less from the fact that the popular Punjabi comedian was an alcoholic, and more because he hated to see anyone else in the party potentially emerge as a challenger.

It is notable that Kejriwal was at pains to emphasise that though Mann had left the decision to him, being a true democrat, he would go to the people for a poll.

Mann reportedly has had some success in shunning alcohol in recent months. Apparently, in the past as well, following a spell in a Bengaluru nature cure centre, he had again relapsed. But it is now claimed that he is completely “clean”. But whether that is sufficient qualification for leading a difficult border state with a vast percentage of its people trapped in drugs and alcohol addiction is another matter.

THE RETURN OF Air India to the Tatas may be an occasion for celebration. If for nothing else, the fact that no longer would the taxpayer be made to shell out close to `8,000 crore annually to feed the white elephant. Hopefully, the country’s most trusted business group would soon revive the airline’s old glory. But the reason for my mentioning the sole success of NDA in divesting the once great asset-turned-liability is the flagrant abuse of the national carrier by babus and politicians. I recall a senior Punjab Congress leader approaching me to speak to a powerful bureaucrat in the Vajpayee PMO for upgrading him on a London flight. He volunteered that during the Congress years, he had absolutely no difficulty travelling business and even first class while on an economy fare. “All that it took then was a request to Dhawan Saheb.” (RK Dhawan, the all-powerful aide of Indira Gandhi.) He pleaded he did not know anyone else to approach, though, according to him, it was a small matter of upgrading him and his family on a flight to London. Of course, there was no question of my speaking to anyone for his sake, but it should be enough to give you an idea how Air India was misused for freebies, such as all-paid layovers in Western cities with luxury accommodation and limos in London, Paris and New York, and other expensive gifts showered at the taxpayers’ expense. Lifetime free tickets for senior management was one of the minor perks of being an Air Indian. No longer, though.

HIGH-PROFILE POLL strategist Prashant Kishor, who makes a pile hiring out his Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC), may be in for a lean period ahead, especially after Mamata Banerjee realises the folly of going all the way to Goa to burnish national credentials. Banerjee’s cause was better served without her staking her political capital in a poll where despite sparing no expense, TMC remains a non-starter. Kishor will be unwelcome in Bengal after March 10th when the Goa blow hits Banerjee. Having burnt his bridges with the Gandhis, who apparently refused to grant him an elevated post for his joining Congress, few options remain open. But he can always float his own party and get the IPAC to make him a leader in his own right, can’t he?

Arvind KejriwalAssembly electionMayawatiPunjabUP