Is the Delhi CM an anarchist?

The nation wants change and if that requires anarchy, so be it; Arvind Kejriwal has no qualms about it

Arvind Kejriwal is unorthodox and unconventional. In fact, the entire Aam Aadmi Party is unorthodox and unconventional. This is their USP. The political party has been born out of a peoples’ movement against corruption and consists of all first-time politicians. This makes it even more unique. The concept of a sit-in demonstration (or a ‘dharna’) was one of the driving forces behind the birth of the political party and hence this is literally the second nature of the AAP. In this background, the two-day sit-in by the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was hardly surprising.

The political opponents of the AAP, led by the BJP, called it “anarchy”. The Chief Minister agreed and proudly claimed himself to be an anarchist. The media stoked the fire and the entire nation started debating whether the remark related to ‘anarchy’ in the Presidential Republic Day address was towards the AAP and whether it was right or not.

Let us try and understand this from a new perspective.

In the words of Noam Chomsky, anarchy is primarily a tendency that is suspicious and skeptical of domination, authority, and hierarchy. It seeks structures of hierarchy and domination in human life over the whole range, extending from, say, patriarchal families to, say, imperial systems, and it asks whether those systems are justified. It assumes that the burden of proof for anyone in a position of power and authority lies on them. Their authority is not self-justifying. They have to give a reason for it, a justification. And if they can't justify that authority and power and control, which is the usual case, then the authority ought to be dismantled and replaced by something more free and just.

From the above it is clear that in a state of anarchy, authority assumed by a position is not respected unless the position truly deserves it and is able to justify the use of such power. Given the state of Indian politics and politicians and the abnormal levels of corruption that have become synonymous with the positions of power, every Indian has an anarchist some where hidden in him. As the levels of corruption rise and the existing machinery provision fail to address the concerns, the common man has no option but to take to the streets. The people of the country are frustrated and are looking at an alternative, which is outside the established system. They want to challenge the existing system since the same has failed to deliver on numerous counts. This may be called anarchism – but in reality this state of affairs has been forced by the inaction of the successive governments. When evil takes over the entire society and there is no ray of hope from any side, anarchy remains the only option.

Coming back to the topic of anarchy and the Delhi Chief Minister. AAP has taken a leadership position in challenging the system and has promised to bring about a new system which is more egalitarian, accountable, just and transparent. Based on these promises, the party has come to govern Delhi. In this particular instance, the AAP again had to challenge the system – and it went back to what it is best – a sit-in demonstration. The existing political parties are again committing the same mistake they had committed in 2012, when they had ridiculed the Anna Lokpal agitation. They are not realizing the mood of the nation – the nation wants change and if that requires anarchy, so be it and Arvind Kejriwal has no qualms about it.