As big as it gets in Punjab

Julio Ribeiro

As far back as December when I spoke to my former colleagues in Punjab, they had mentioned that the AAP was making giant strides in the state. From further conversations, I had concluded that the AAP would emerge as a serious contender in the electoral arena — the single largest entity, pipping the Congress at the post.

The AAP has surpassed the BJP in education and health. If it succeeds in de-politicising the security apparatus, it will become the party of choice in governance.

But the voters outdid even the AAP’s expectations, giving it such a massive majority. A true tectonic shift if ever there was one! It was obvious that the people wanted a big change that would send a clear message to the old established parties that the days of taking voters for granted were gone.

The AAP had proved its mettle in the two principal spheres in which every government is expected to perform, but never does — education and health. Rhodes scholar Atishi Marlena, a battle-hardened social worker, named partly after Marx and partly after Lenin, has transformed public schools of Delhi into centres of learning comparable with private schools.

The public health system also has dramatically improved, with the result that it could cope with the onslaught of the pandemic much more efficiently than many others. Arvind Kejriwal’s whiz kid, Raghav Chadha, may or may not have had a hand in this department, but he can be relied on to guide the newly inducted political bosses in Punjab on the narrow and straight roads to meeting people’s expectations.

The newly elected legislators have a clear slate to start from. Kejriwal has publicly sworn to arrest and prosecute any AAP legislator who succumbs to the temptation of corruption. It is a tall promise! Lord Acton had proclaimed that ‘power corrupts’. It is not easy to keep your fingers in your own pockets when in politics.

The third sphere where any government has to perform is public security — the maintenance of law and order on the streets and the prevention and detection of crime. Here, the AAP has no expertise. It was not tested in Delhi because it is not a full-fledged state. The police is controlled by the Lt-Governor who reports to Union Home Minister Amit Shah at present. The BJP, when in the opposition, had demanded full statehood for Delhi. When it was installed as the power at the Centre, it quickly changed its mind!

CM Bhagwant Mann has publicly announced that he will use the police only for policing and not for any other purpose apart from their duties as prescribed in the Constitution and as per the enacted laws. If he keeps his word, the AAP would do what the Police Commission of 1973 and the Supreme Court in its Prakash Singh judgment of 1997 had mandated — the de-politicisation of the police.

We would revert to the golden years following India’s Independence when political leaders of those times monitored the performance of the police at the Station House and even chowki or outpost level, but never interfered with the operational independence crucial to its performance. The men or women chosen to man the sensitive leadership positions at the very top and in the districts should be those with proven records of integrity and capability. They should be left to command and supervise their subordinate formations. If they falter in any manner, especially in the integrity quotient, they should be removed.

If the AAP succeeds in introducing a new paradigm in the security apparatus, it will overtake the BJP as the party of choice in governance. It has surpassed the BJP in education and health. It can, if it wants, do so in law and order and present Kejriwal as an alternative to Narendra Modi at the Centre. The only difference then would be that the ‘double engine’ would have different drivers.

In security management, the importance of keeping the police out of politics is paramount. And this is exactly where the present BJP government is on weak ground. It uses Central investigation agencies, like the CBI, IT, ED and NIA, to target its political opponents. It does so blatantly and without batting an eyelid. Of course, these agencies are meant to bring to book big offenders but if offenders are classified into pro-government and anti-government, and only the latter are targeted, it amounts to politicising the police, as is happening at present.

After his emphatic victory in the UP elections, Modi naturally was in seventh heaven. He held a victory celebratory meeting outside the party headquarters in Delhi. At one stage, he asked the crowd whether it was right to prosecute all offenders or not. The crowd roared its approval. I, too, would have. But Modi omitted to mention that offenders who crossed over to his party would be exempt! Like it happened in Bengal, for instance.

If Bhagwant Mann, prodded by Raghav Chadha, can keep his promise of not mixing policing with politics, the AAP will make history. It will stand out as a beacon of good governance. Yogi Adityanath became popular among the common people of UP by letting his police mow down criminals when they came out on the roads. Mann can achieve the same results by legal and civilised means.

But ruling Punjab is not the same as governing Delhi. Punjab is a border state and that alone makes the going so much harder. Besides, he will not get the same steam in his single-engine administration. His colleagues in Delhi can enlighten him on the vicious treatment they received from the BJP government at the Centre when they first took over the reins in Delhi. Their government was not allowed to function till it approached the court for permission to function as a ‘single engine’ according to the law. To add to Mann’s woes, the state’s finances are in a shambles and his own party has added to his worries by promising freebies.

I am not sure how he is going to tackle these varied problems, all Herculean in their own right.

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#arvind kejriwal #bhagwant mann