Return of anarchists

A week is long time in politics, the intellectually gifted British Premier Harold Wilson had said about 75 years ago. On January 21 and 22, the new star of Indian democracy -- Arvind Kejriwal -- improved upon Wilson's thought. Even two days are quite long time in politics .

And in those two days Kejriwal's Aam Admi Party (AAP) discovered that it's biggest campaigner, the media, was now actually baying for its blood. The trigger, off course, was the "Yes, I am an anarchist" claim of the wonder-boy of Indian politics.

Indeed, anarchism as a socio-political platform had long been subsumed by the communists. After the Bolshevik revolution, the Russian rulers had defeated them in some here and there wars. But the anarchists around the world continue to keep raising their voices particularly in Europe and America. That they have set their feet on the Indian soil is clearly a revelation. 

If not for a pattern, Kejriwal's declaration would have been ignored for an off the cuff remark. But a week earlier, his colleague, Prashant Bhushan, in an interview with The Asian Age, lamented that democracy in India is "minimal". That more than 70 per cent of eligible voters cast their votes in elections passed off as "minimal" democracy for Bhushan allows a pattern to take a shape. This lawyer of quite an eminence, who believes that there should be a referendum on deployment of security forces in Maoist affected areas and Jammu and Kashmir, is a theorist and along with Yogendra Yadav forms the ideological backbone of the AAP. 

And for that matter, one needs to revisit the anarchist school of thought, which took birth in as early as six century BC. One may also be surprised to know that Jesus Christ was considered among the initial advocate of anarchism. Conceptually, anarchism is a political philosophy that advocates stateless societies, with stress on self-governed voluntary institutions, and, for their followers, state is an unnecessary, undesirable and harmful institution.

The AAP's manifesto states that the MP/MLA Area Local Development Fund should be scrapped and that should be given to the Mohalla (locality) committee. A crucial fallback to anarchist thought could be seen here and for that matter Kejriwal's self-description was not an off the cuff remark. 

Zuangzi, who was among the initial anarchist theorist, believed "a petty thief is put in jail but a great brigand becomes the ruler of a nation". He must have been read by Kejriwal and Bhushan with much delight, as AAP's pamphlets hint a throwback to Zuangzi's thoughts. 

More important is Pierre-Joseph Proudhan, a French and first self-proclaimed anarchist, who published

"What is property" in 1840. His theory of "spontaneous order" wherein organisation emerges through peaceful evolution imposing its own idea of order without a central coordinator against the wills of individuals will find a parallel in the agitation of Somnath Bharti, Delhi's law minister, whom the AAP has stoutly defended against his racist and unlawful coercion of people of African nations. 

Even Kejriwal, when asked by this blogger in early 2013 on accusations against him that he had been spreading too much of negativity in the society without offering a platform to channel people's anger, had stated that "people will spontaneously throw an alternative". That did happen on December 8 and proved him right, but also cements his strong belief in the idea of anarchism. 

Indeed, it's a question worth pondering why people are so much in love with veiled anarchists at least in Delhi. Immediate answer would be that the existing political class had left a lot of political vacuum for new people with an idea of alternative politics to fill in.   

But was not India the land of socialism where the communists could not expand beyond Bengal, Kerala, Tripura and fringe areas of Punjab. That the socialism was so powerful as a political tool, it was enshrined in the Constitutions of India too can not be forgotten .

The political socialism, arguably in the Hindi heartland, emerged strongly, but is surely now gasping for breath. South of Vindhyanchal, politics took shelter behind linguistic identity, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.   

The political heirs of socialist Ram Manohar Lohiya were Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh and Lalu Prasad Yadav in Bihar. That Viswanath Pratap Singh showed up with a little cameo by arming the political socialism with Mandal identity effectively made the campaign caste centric, and alienated the upper castes, whose leaders, had spearheaded the march of socialism in Indian democracy till then.

Later, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad further shrunk caste based socialism into family owned political enterprises. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, as many as seven members of the Mulayam clan will be contesting elections, while his son, Akhilesh Yadav, and brother, Shivpal Singh Yadav, lead the state. For Lalu, his politics begins with self and ends with wife; and in between his brothers-in-law too appear.

And for that matter, the political class left a huge space for alternative politics; and that being occupied by anarchists is a telling blow to the delivery of the state in the recent years in terms of services and policies.

In the 19th and 20th century, anarchists were organizationally and ideologically crushed by the communists. But the Left, baring China and Russia, is fast becoming a relic of the gone era and that too for a good reason. The Congress in India is at least in its orientation a socialist and centrist party, while the BJP has over the years metamorphosed into a giant ideological body subsuming the best of the socialism while leaning on capitalism. And they being the only two national parties have to face the challenge of anarchists in the coming years.

President Pranab Mukherjee and BJP patriarch L K Advani are the only two political persons alive who can

understand ramifications of anarchists raising their heads in backyard. President knows that the challenge is serious and a threat to India's national interest. Thus he chose the occasion of the address to the nation on the eve of the Republic Day to warn the people against "popular anarchists".

The anarchists were defeated by the collective might of the communists in Europe and Russia. Now, they have to be defeated by the collective will of the people, for they are status quoist and populist at the expanse of the socio-economic growth.  

The meltdown

"Bapu, the government spends a fortune to ensure that you live a simple and austere life," Sarojini Naidu had told Mahatma Gandhi sometime during the British rule. That, of course, may not be known to the howling brigade, who have clearly taken the borrowed right of freedom of speech and expression from the people for granted.    

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hoped that history will be kinder to him than the contemporary media and Opposition. That will be known only in future, but would the history be kinder to Indian journalism of past few weeks, particularly in Delhi, must be a subject of debate now and right now. Because in the last four weeks, Indian media -- TV, wholly; and print, substantially -- have forgotten that their primary role is to report and critique.

An editor ranking journalist opined that BJP mascot Narendra Modi is finished and Aam Admi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal would make strong impact in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. This would hardly concern, for each person is the king of his mental faculty, but what followed then should alarm most.

When asked if the same ferocious critiquing was being done for Arvind Kejriwal as had been done to Modi, the journalist startled with the reply. "No. We are not doing that to Kejriwal. He should get a chance. People are tired of corruption," he quipped, allowing a semblance of Aam Admi to take over his journalistic senses. 

He is not alone in his opinion that Kejriwal should get a chance. One TV editor tweeted that Kejriwal should get 100 days at least before he is judged. Other TV editors have given ample demonstration, that they would love to pamphleteer for AAP.

John Simpson, the famed BBC broadcaster, had chronicled and critically reviewed British journalism during two World Wars in his celebrated book "Unreliable sources". He found both shallow and brilliance in those period among the British journalists. 

If Simpson were to undertake a relatively simple task to review Indian journalism, particularly those in Delhi, for a period, say, four recent weeks, one may hazard a guess that he would find majority of the media houses with their pants down. 

AAP leader and lawyer Prashant Bhushan welcoming Kamal Mitra Chenoy, a Leftist, in his party.

Simpson would easily find that Delhi media were not only taking sides of AAP but were the campaigner of this party. Thus, the newspapers splashed AAP coverage, disproportionate to what it could have actually commanded, and thereby disadvantaged its political rivals, say Congress and BJP.

Furthermore, the constant drum-beating for AAP in TV channels without seriously examining its policies and in fact demanding to know them did succeed in establishing the party in Delhi, which has 99 per cent cable penetration. People discovered after Kejriwal was sworn in that his party favoured referendum on deployment of security forces in Jammu and Kashmir and also in Maoist affected areas and that this outfit believed in subsidising the middle class at the expanse of the poor and so on.

In fact, on the first day of the iconic fast-unto-death undertaken by Aana Hazare at Jantar Mantar in April 2011, one TV reporter too had joined the Gandhian by keeping fast and working too. But his news channel did not know that the reportage was thus compromised and hence he was not sacked, as would have been the case with any professional organisations. Kejriwal then used to drum his support among reporters and liberally employed journalists at his Public Cause and Research Foundation (PCRF) NGO. And thus Kejriwal infiltrated media in a way, that no one could imagine.

And so we see a daily overdose of AAP in print and TV channels. So, the same story wearing the cloth of news appears that Kejriwal refuses security, launches helpline numbers, etc. Initially, they were falling over to brand Kejriwal another Mahatma Gandhi being the icon of simplicity, as he chose only a 10-room duplex for his office-cum-residence. If not for the social media, which reminded them of Mamata Banerjee, Manik Sarkar and Manohar Parrikar, just to name a few, living in much smaller homes, Delhi media would have by now certified Kejriwal another Gandhi.

"Bapu, the government spends a fortune to ensure that you live a simple and austere life," Sarojini Naidu had told Mahatma Gandhi sometime during the British rule. That, of course, may not be known to the howling brigade, who have clearly taken the borrowed right of freedom of speech and expression from the people for granted.