Capital punishment

The vehemence with which the Delhi voters hit back at AAP in the elections to the municipal corporations comes as no surprise to the locals. The Capital punishment awarded to Arvind Kejriwal for his juvenile politics was a well-deserved one. And it is only the beginning of the downfall one could say, going by the hostile mood of the people.

The drubbing received by AAP in the elections in the hands of BJP is self-inflicted. Way back in 2015, it swept aside BJP and Congress with a 67 out of 70 score in the Assembly elections. Some called it new era politics while others predicted the rise of clean politics.

Alas, an overambitious Arvind Kejriwal committed harakiri in his haste to don a bigger role for himself in the national politics. A fundamental point that Arvind had forgotten in his quest to become the principal opposition leader of the country is that the same voters gave Narendra Modi a sweeping majority in the Lok Sabha elections just a year ahead of the Assembly elections.

Voters conveyed to him in no uncertain terms this message when they chose him a year later: "We have picked Modi to govern the country and we choose you to govern Delhi.” Yet, this gentleman abdicated the responsibility so roundly that he did not even choose to have a subject for himself and took pleasure in touring the country attacking Modi at the drop of hat.

Delhi voter could not fathom the reasons for Kejriwal's, the only Chief Minister without portfolio in the country, heightened sense of importance. Instead of governing the State, he chose confrontation (with the Centre) as his daily chore and in turn tainted the image of his party beyond repair.

It also became clearer to the voters that Kejriwal not only inherited the Congress votes but also its culture. More than a dozen of his legislators and leaders got embroiled in cases and controversies. All that he could see was conspiracy to it.

His clashes with the Lt Gen of Delhi and the MCDs being governed by the BJP are now legendary. Voters were always bemused with his strident anti-Modi campaign and his forays into politics of other States.

The problem with the likes of Kejriwals is that their Liliputian nature clashes with their Brobdingnag egos only to knock sense out of them. It is ironical that this non-politician-turned-Chief Minister matured quickly in the art of deception of seasoned politicians only to throw up tantrums in a juvenile fashion much to the chagrin of people.

Kejriwal perfected the greater fool theory of the real estate to hoodwink people with his irrational theories and arguments. The latest fad of his is the theory of faulty EVMs. He, perhaps, is just one step short of his next theory of "faulty voters." Kejriwal must ponder whether he has lost faith in himself. There is a bigger challenge ahead of him and that is how to avoid an implosion!