Sunder Chauhan
It can be predicted that the new year in opposition politics is going to be the sacrifice of ‘ruthless’ miracles of only two leaders. The success and failure of these two leaders in the new year is going to give rise to many apprehensions and equations. It can be said that the year will start with the luck or political defeat of Arvind Kejriwal, who is holding the post of ‘Chief Minister’ from ‘behind the scenes’ for the fourth time and the year 2025 will start with Modi determining the future of Nitish Kumar. It can be assumed that there must have been a tacit agreement between BJP and Congress on at least one issue that the Delhi Assembly elections should prove to be the last installment for Kejriwal’s kind of politics at all costs. It should not be surprising if the AAP leader has a suspicion that both the parties have united against him. Kejriwal is smart. He understands the fear of both Modi and Rahul regarding AAP. That is why they have now started attacking both the parties equally. Earlier only Modi-Shah were on Kejriwal’s target, not Congress Kejriwal’s intentions were further exposed by the way Sanjay Singh and Atishi ‘made’ allegations against the Congress leadership on the pretext of Ajay Maken and threatened to oust Congress from the ‘India Block’. After ten years in power, Kejriwal has never appeared as apprehensive about his political future as he is at present. Just like the fear Kejriwal is facing regarding his party, similar is the situation Nitish Kumar is facing in Bihar regarding JDU. Although JDU has welcomed the decision of the Center to remove Arif Mohammad Khan from Kerala and make him the Governor of Bihar, it does not dismiss the apprehensions that Nitish Kumar may also get ‘Eknath’ after the elections. Amit Shah has already tossed the coin once that the Chief Minister’s face has not been decided yet for Bihar elections and on the other hand, BJP leader Giriraj Singh has suggested to make Nitish ‘Bharat Ratna’.Both BJP and Congress know that if Kejriwal succeeds in becoming the Chief Minister for the fourth time despite strong opposition, then what will be the political consequences? In that situation, it will not be Rahul Gandhi but Kejriwal who will challenge Modi. Doesn’t it seem surprising that since 2014, Modi kept defeating Congress across the country but kept failing in front of Kejriwal in Delhi, right under the nose of the government. There must be something in Kejriwal which is not there in Rahul!
The challenge before Rahul is that Kejriwal’s victory will give birth to the lethal combination in opposition politics that Mamata Banerjee is waiting for in Kolkata. Mamta has already expressed her intentions that she wants to lead the ‘India Bloc’ by removing Congress. In that situation, other opposition parties including Sharad Pawar’s NCP will also free themselves from the umbrella of Congress. At this time, the bigger task for Rahul than defeating BJP in Delhi elections is to stop Kejriwal from coming to power again. Kejriwal’s new plan of giving eighteen thousand rupees per month to the priests of temples and the priests of Gurudwaras can be considered as a part of the strategy to systematically attack the weak nerves of both BJP and Congress. On the lines of Maharashtra, Kejriwal had announced on December 12 that women will be given ₹ 1000 every month now and ₹ 2,100 after the elections. After that, on December 18, it was announced that elderly people above sixty years of age will get free treatment in private and government hospitals. The Delhi government later termed both the schemes as ‘fake’. It can be asked why the schemes which did not even come to Kejriwal’s mind during the last ten years are being implemented now?
Nitish Kumar and Kejriwal have emerged as the most ambitious politicians of Indian politics in recent years. It is alleged that both the leaders, due to their lust for power, have caused the most damage to the opposition’s common fight against the BJP. Nitish kept calling himself the creator of ‘India Block’ but it was he who hurt it the most. Regarding Kejriwal’s image, even after two and a half decades, the country is not able to decide whose team player he is.
Anna-Kejriwal’s ‘India Against Corruption’ is a witness to how the clean governments of first Sheila Dikshit and later Dr Manmohan Singh were destroyed with the help of BJP and RSS. It is beginning to be felt that it will be a unique moment in Indian politics when people with ambitions like Nitish Kumar and Kejriwal will be pushed to the margins of the pages of history. Kejriwal still has twenty-twenty-five years left to do politics like Modi. It can be imagined that if this flamboyant leader of ‘Aam Aadmi Party’ continues to achieve success, then to what point he will take politics and leave it
