4:30 AM
Less than two months after coming to office, New Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stepped down on Friday after failing to get an
anti-corruption bill tabled in the capital region’s state legislature.
Kejriwal, 45, came to power in December after his upstart Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party (AAP) defeated the incumbent Congress in state
elections. The upset sent a clear message that voters in India’s capital
were ready for change.
Kejriwal’s decision to step down isn’t exactly a shock. He has said
he’d quit if he couldn’t pass the Jan Lokpal (Citizen’s Ombudsman) Bill,
which would, among other things, establish an independent body to
investigate allegations of corruption by public servants. The nation’s
parliament passed another version of the Lokpal Bill last year. The
version Kejriwal supports gives the anti-corruption body that would be
established for New Delhi more power. Kejriwal resigned after lawmakers
in the Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) scuttled the
bill, voting against its introduction in the assembly.
In less than 50 days in power, AAP’s high-drama brand of governance
has gained its share of fans and skeptics. Kejriwal’s media-friendly
moves, like spending the night under blankets on the street with
protesters in a bid to reform the capital’s police force, have
successfully drawn attention to his party’s anti-corruption fight. On
Feb. 11, the Delhi government filed a criminal case that accused
Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani and others of collusion in
gas-price fixing. (Kejriwal has since attacked both the Congress and BJP
for their close ties with the powerful industrialist.) The same day,
Reliance released a statement denying the allegation, calling it
“baseless and devoid of any merit or substance whatsoever.”
The AAP’s focus on corruption has been welcomed by many Indian voters
fed up with a two-party system that is identified with the nation’s
elite. Opinion polls
show that the AAP remains popular in the capital. But observers
question whether Kejriwal and his party can make the transition from
political activism to effective governance. If his resignation forces
new state elections to be held alongside national elections this spring,
Kejriwal may very well end up as the capital’s chief minister again.
The move may even lend momentum to AAP’s national campaign. If the party
can find a way to turn platforms into policies, it could become the new
third force in Indian politics. If it can’t, it may be doomed to become
part of the problem, not the solution.
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