One such actor in the fray who has championed this craft is the Convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party who has been consistently accused of fundamental contradictions right from his India Against Corruption Days. Ambition is okay in Public life provided it is backed by some set of convictions. But a closer scrutiny of Mr Kejriwal's shenanigans reveal that his is an endeavor in sophistry
for the simple pursuit of power. As a mechanical engineer from Google Chief's alma mater, he has somewhere been bamboozled along his career that public discourse can have an infinite tensile capacity and you can continue your buffoonery in perpetuity to woo the public support as if the arena of public debate is the sheer confine of some cheap comedy show and invoking a chuckle on the face of the audience can be assumed to be the serious function of exercising a vote.
Not anymore perhaps. Challenging the existing direction of policy by introducing well researched & adequately reasoned set of arguments and questioning its eventual mode and manner of execution by introducing unresolved and uncharted use cases, has been the core of democratic discourse.
A Chief Minister without portfolio enjoying the windfall gains of a popular public movement against corruption in high offices, has either burnt out his intellectual capabilities or has got so over awed by his vertical rise that he thinks he possesses the bagpipe and the magic tune to play upon which controls the public mind.
He has not extended and championed any original, fundamental or disruptive idea of making the lives of his electorate better. Whatever little is being attempted at in the domain of education & healthcare remains the brainchild of his deputy Mr Manish Sisodia.
The finesse of the language conveying the policy abstractions and futuristic fallouts of the same has been the metric of quality of discourse and its eventual sincerity. There are established traditions and conventions which the high offices of public representatives are expected to adhere, just for the simple reason to check the trivialisation of public affairs.
But it seems that this ex-IRS officer defies it all by setting out an obnoxiously nauseating choice of phrases and retorting to rumour mongering. Even the political chieftains of India's heartlands who don't boast to have an Ivy League education, make Mr Kejriwal look like an illiterate and uneducated outsider in the domain of India's public discourse. Despite all political rivalry the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh venerates his predecessor by an affectionate epithet.
Carving out a distinctive political space for yourself is fine, cracking jokes or interspersing satire is a healthy practice but adhering to some universally accepted norms goes well with the repute and grace of the office you bear. You just can't retort to sheer abuse or ridicule of the most obnoxious variant, come what may and too concerning the highest elected office of the country. It simply shows the presence of an innocuous unpreparedness or an overarching usage of the dangerous tactic of accentuating a delusional derision. The latter is a severe threat to the evolution of healthy & participatory discourse.
It might be iconoclasm in Mr Kejriwal's worldview but the world including his electorate which finds cheated every passing day takes it as a sheer public display of idiocity and over-ambition. Even amidst the dissenting club his is the most scratchy stand when it comes to the merit of it.
Mr Kejriwal couldn't do anything to contain the spectre of corruption which transcended him from a social activist to a politician. His one size fit all Lokpal is still awaiting the light of the day to check the crisis of the conscience of all in high and mighty places.
Nonetheless, he has been extremely successful in lowering down the grace and demeanour of India's public discourse. This concerns all the more as his character emerges out as an absolute antithesis of a professionally educated idealist youth having the committment to serve the public cause.
His public reaction in the aftermath of the biggest cleanup action on black money is a glaring testimony to his chicanery which has consumed even the last remnants of his political integrity. Instead of welcoming and supporting the masterstroke of demonetisation and extending some enabling thoughts for the successful implementation of the same having been a technocrat, bureaucrat and a politician in gradual succession, he chose to scandalise the entire initiative just to create some reactionary noise and to emerge as a key leader of the United opposition desperately in search of a ground for political relevance. He could have taken cue from Sushasan Babu, who has under his profound leadership brought ample transformations in the land which gave India her 3 majestic empires.
Had he used his educational & professional endowments he would have created a strong case for the United opposition and emerged as its natural leader. He brings to himself the greatest embarrassment when his half baked & scandalous bed tales are debunked by the very next man on the street.
With all the movies and television shows he finds ample time to watch he should give an audience to the episode of Netflix's The Crown featuring the London Fog and take inspiration from the matured demeanour of Labour Party Chief Attlee in tackling the tricky political situtation. For Freshers like Mr Kejriwal, who chose to relinquish their educational & professional legacy on the altar of an overwhelming public support, it can be an end in sheer disgrace as that of Group Captain Peter Townsend who symbolised sheer opportunism defying conventions, hatching conspiracies and exhibiting dereliction to sovereign interests.
For Mr Kejriwal's chagrin, he has chosen to contest an adroit, unadulterated, on the fly learner Narendra Modi who factors into all meaningful criticisms into his policy deck at once. His real time feedback loop enables him to improvise and thereby accomplish the larger goals which he had set to accomplish.
With all the track record available so far, it's but very clear that the fatigue of argumentation has taken over the minds of United Opposition largely owning to the sheer bankruptcy of ideas. The biggest casualty of this calamity is perhaps none other than the Chief Minister of Delhi Mr Arvind Kejriwal who has somehow fallen for a 'Chhota' shortcut and has got entrapped in his own stockpile of abuse & malice abrogating the sacredness of India's public life.
The time warp of almost 7 decades separates Mr Kejriwal from Prime Minister Modi. While the former is still languishing around Swaraj, the latter has charted the course of this antiquated civilization on the glorious trajectory of surajya. The courageous decision of currency detox is one of the many such bold moves which has fossilised the imagination of the United opposition.
