Pratap Bhanu Mehta on Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest: The mask is off, what stares us in the face
The government will probably claim that it was simply following the law; that Kejriwal was not responding to summons. But the law was already being applied in a way that was highly discretionary. If you have a government that does not allow the Opposition to mobilise, organise and govern, it is hard to pretend that we are a democracy. The election is already being vitiated
The arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is a watershed moment in India’s slide towards a full blown tyranny. Much of what this government has been doing over the last few years — the selective use of the Enforcement Directorate to target the Opposition and protect its own, the clampdown on civil society, the suppression of protest, censorship and the mis-use of tax and administrative law — were designed to consolidate a pervasive culture of fear. But even by those standards, the arrest of Kejriwal, in the middle of an election, is an unprecedented display of impunity. If this moment does not galvanise resistance in the name of democracy, India’s freedom will be imperiled for a long time to come.
Politically, one can only speculate on the government’s motives. Is this arrest designed to draw attention away from the embarrassing stance the government took in the electoral bonds case, and the increasing spotlight on India’s plutocracy? Is it an act of hubris? A lack of self-confidence? Vindictiveness? Or is this, as is more likely the case with regimes that slide into tyranny, simply an _expression_ of the regime’s essential character. Tyrants have a compulsive desire to dominate. Their limitless sense of self-regard can trap them in their own mystique: They do it, because they can. One ruling party leader had once said to me that “We have written scripts on all our opponents. Now which film is produced when is just a matter of time.” The government had asserted its dominance over everyone else. Kejriwal was one last frontier that needed to be conquered and put in place.
Kejriwal’s significance has always far exceeded his actual political power for four reasons. Many might find him a disappointment in terms of the high hopes he had raised eight years ago. But he is one of the few Opposition leaders against whom the government’s standard narratives do not work easily. The essence of Narendra Modi’s case against the Opposition has always been to present himself as a revolutionary figure confronting a corrupt, entitled, lazy ancien regime. This is the trope that still works against the Congress. But it is less effective against the AAP, in some ways a party cut from the same historical moment as Modi’s rise to the Centre. Kejriwal is not cut from the old Lutyens’ cloth; nor of old caste equations, or regional chauvinism.
Second, creating a national base takes decades and so the AAP’s electoral influence is still limited. But he is one of the only leaders about whom there is at least a little bit of a buzz nationally: A semblance of curiosity about the Delhi Model, and an ability to attract attention. Third, and ideologically more troublingly, he is also not easy to paint in the colours of an old Nehruvian secularism. He has been evasive enough on communal issues, and not easy to punch politically. He does not provide the usual grist for the BJP’s ideological mill. And the BJP does not like opponents it cannot punch. Fourth, despite almost a decade of constitutional chicanery by the Central government to prevent the Delhi government from exercising full blown powers, Kejriwal has tenaciously held his own. It was his presence, and not his power, that was the affront.
But this arrest has chilling implications. As this column had argued (‘No Reaction’, IE, March 28, 2023), whenever a ruling party systematically targets the Opposition, it is also signaling the fact that it will not contemplate the smooth transition of power. From that perspective, Indian democracy is in trouble. Democracy is trapped in a vicious circle. If there is no massive pushback against this government, authoritarianism will consolidate. But if there is pushback, we should be prepared for the government using any means to hold onto power. The existential dread that merely tolerating an opponent produces in this government is a warning signal about its intentions.
Second, this moment should give a lie to all those who claim India is a normal democracy. The façade of denial and normalcy has been shattered. India’s elites and voters have been too long deluding themselves that we live in a constitutional democracy. It is an old dictatorial playbook, going back to the Roman Emperor Augustus, to act as if traditional institutions — the legislature, the form of the law, and the traditional liturgies of popular power — continue.
Even in this instance, the government will probably claim that it was simply following the law; that Kejriwal was not responding to summons. But this is a façade that hides the deeper truth: The law was already being applied in a way that was highly discretionary. But if you have a government that does not allow the Opposition to mobilise, organise and govern, it is hard to pretend that we are a democracy. The election is already being vitiated.
Third, this arrest should draw our attention to the larger fate of constitutionalism. The Supreme Court may grant Indian democracy small victories, as it has in the electoral bonds case. A court might well give Kejriwal some relief at some point. But we must remember that behind this moment is the accumulated sense of impunity that our laws and courts have created.
For instance, the PMLA, on which the Supreme Court had put its seal of approval (‘Kafka’s Law’, IE, July 29, 2022), can be politically misused in exactly this way. The Court’s erratic record on bail, its constant support of the Executive, tempts governments to see what they can get away with. So the task of repairing Indian constitutional values will have to go beyond occasional relief that keeps the façade of legality alive. The courts have to begin to dismantle the instruments of oppression they have connived in creating.
Fourth, the political Opposition needs to play this moment well. Many Opposition leaders will be reluctant to create a full-blooded mobilisation in support of Kejriwal for fear of making him politically bigger than he is. But this would be a foolish logic to follow. Modi has had an easy time convincing people of the sheer smallness of the Opposition. If in a moment of existential crisis, the Opposition cannot think beyond its petty games, then Modi has won hands down. The Opposition should also not treat this as merely a legal or administrative battle. It needs to politically mobilise, and hit the streets within the bounds of such law as we have. And we ordinary citizens should make no mistake. The mask is off. A looming tyranny stares us in the face.
The writer is contributing editor, The Indian Express