Shameless AAP

This is the height of arrogance by Kejriwal and his chamchas. They are shamelessly spending public money for self promotion.

 When I called Kejriwal a Don Quixote, and his chamchas like Ashutosh as Sancho Panzas, I was furiously attacked by many people.. Now Delhiites are realizing that I was speaking the truth.

 Kejriwal will shamelessly stick to his gaddi till he is kicked out by the public

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-govt-to-spend-rs-526-crore-for-self-promotion-congress-asks-is-it-not-corruption/?SocialMedia

Kejriwal has become a ' ghuta hua ' politician

Since it has now become quite clear that Tomar's degree is fake, it is now high time that AAP and Kejriwal should apologise to the people of Delhi for taking them for a ride and shamelessly defending Tomar.

Kejriwal should also explain why he made such a fraudulent person like Tomar, the Law Minister of Delhi, despite being warned by Prashant Bhushan and others of the allegations against Tomar. If Kejriwal was an honest leader he should have sacked Tomar earlier when the issue came to the limelight,  instead he shamelessly kept on defending him and misleading people.

This incident vindicates my stand that  Kejriwal has now become a typical, ' ghuta hua ', Indian politician who will do every trick to hang on to power. As long as someone is personally loyal to him, he will overlook his misdeeds.

Kejriwal should now stop taking the moral high ground. There are reports that other MLAs of AAP also have allegations of having fake degrees, apart from that lovely lady, Smriti Irani, who,of course,  for this very reason deserved to be appointed Union HRD  Minister . Kejriwal must clarify these serious charges in the court of the public as soon as possible

Barkha Dutt's interview of Arvind Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal has given an interview on NDTV channel to Barkha Dutt, which I have seen. I would like to give my comments on the same.

 Before commenting on it, however, I would like to say a few words about how AAP got a phenomenal 67 out of 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly elections.

The victory of AAP can be attributed to the following factors :

1. Delhi has a substantial number of small and middle level businessmen, i.e. shopkeepers, traders, etc.

Earlier, Congress was the party representing big business, while BJP represented the small and middle businessmen in many parts of India. Now Congress has been decimated ( thanks to its own misdeeds ), and BJP has been transformed into the party representing big business. The vacuum for representing small and middle businessmen has been filled by the AAP. Therefore many Delhiites voted for AAP.

2. Modi had won the May, 2014 Lok Sabha electons largely on the slogan of 'vikas', which to the Indian youth meant that millions of jobs will be created. The voting age in India had been reduced from 21 to 18, and the youth, cutting through caste and communal lines, voted en masse for Modi, thinking that now they will all get jobs. It may be mentioned that there is massive unemployment in India ( see my blog ' Unemployment in India ' on justicekatju.blogspot.in ), and so the youth were desparate to get jobs. The slogan of 'vikas' was thus the bait with which BJP led by Modi hooked the Indian youth in May, 2014.

 However, after coming to power, the dream of job creation has vanished, and far from more jobs being created there are lay offs( see my blog ' The Dream has Evaporated '), and the Indian youth  realized that they were taken for a ride by Modi and left high and dry. Thus the Indian youth felt cheated, and, to let out their anger, in the Delhi Assembly elections decided to give a strong rebuff to Modi,by voting for AAP.

3. Delhi has a substantial Muslim population, and Muslims were feeling insecure due to ghar wapasi, love jihad, speeches of BJP MPs like Adityanath, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti ( haramzadas ), etc.

Now Muslims in India vote usually for the strongest non-BJP candidate ( as they perceive BJP as their strongest threat ). Since Congress had been all but demolished, that left only AAP in the fray as the only alternative, and they voted solidly for it.

4. A major problem for Delhiites is electricity and water bills, and AAP promised to seriously address this problem.

The above are the real reasons for AAP's fantastic victory in February, 2015.

Now coming to the interview.

 1. At the beginning, Kejriwal mentions about the achievement's of AAP in its 100 days in power---reduction of electricity bills, providing free water to the poorer sections, suppression of corruption and the 'transfer industry', etc.

 So far as I could gather ( from America ), to some extent the claim is correct, and the Delhi public is feeling some relief.

 But these are early days. I remember when Emergency was imposed in 1975 for a few months there were ' Gains of Emergency ' ( as they were called ). Trains started running on time, prices of essential commodities dropped, officials stopped taking bribes ( out of fear ), etc. But after 4-6 months all this euphoria evaporated, and  it was again ' business as usual '. So I would request people to wait for another 100 days before making up their minds.

2. Kejriwal then blames the Lt. Governor for creating all kinds of obstacles. On this issue, I have already expressed my view that from the Constitutional point of view Kejriwal is correct ( see my blog ' Who is correct--Najeeb Jung or Kejriwal ?' ). How can a government run if it cannot have officers in whom it has confidence ? Of course Najeeb Jung is only acting as His Master's Voice, otherwise he would be sacked ( as have other Governors ). But the BJP leaders ( Najeeb Jung's masters) have made a stupid mistake in harrassing Kejriwal, thus making him a martyr in the eyes of the Delhi public, who are viewing the confrontation as a fight between David and Goliath. If the BJP leaders had not behaved so stupidly, by now AAP and Kejriwal would have started becoming unpopular ( as they can obviously not fulfil most of their election promises ), but their silly behaviour, and Najeeb Jung's misuse of his official position, has given an additional lease of life to Kejriwal's popularity.

3. The interview then goes into some other issues e.g. Gajendra ( who committed suicide in an AAP rally ), the media, Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, corruption, air pollution,etc.

My comments on the interview are as follows :

 The real problems of India are massive poverty, massive unemployment ( see my blog ' Unemployment in India ' in which I have mentioned that 10 million Indian youth are coming into the job market every year, while only half a million jobs are being created annually in the organized sector of the economy ), massive malnutrition ( see my blog ' Malnutrition in India ' in which I have mentioned that half the children in India are malnourished ), almost total lack of healthcare and good education for the masses ( see my blog Healthcare in India '), farmers suicides, discrimination against, women, dalits, minorities, etc

 Kejriwal has no solution to these problems ( see my blog ' The Reality about Arvind Kejriwal ', ' Have no illusions about Arvind Kejriwal ' and my other blogs about him ), and is only a ' Sapnon ka Saudagar' ( seller of dreams), like Rahul Gandhi, Modi, etc.

 In fact the solutions to India's massive problems lie outside the system, which has to be radically altered. Kejriwal, like Rahul and Modi, are very much within the system.

 In his book ' Swaraj', Kejriwal suggests ( like Gandhi ) that India's problems can be solved by devolving power to the village panchayats and mohalla panchayats. But anyone with even a little knowledge of the social realities of India knows that these panchayats are hotbeds of casteism and centres of corruption. Almost all the gaon sabha land, which was meant to be for the common use of the villagers, have been grabbed by the pradhan and other officials of these bodies ( see my judgment in the Supreme Court, Jagpal Singh vs. State of Punjab, 2011. It can be seen online )

 The interview, intentionally or unintentionally, avoids focussing on the above, and only deals with periphery and minor issues.

 I can safely predict that in 6 months time Arvind Kejriwal will become extremely unpopular, like Congress and Modi

The reality about Arvind Kejriwal

Once again on the reality about Arvind Kejriwal

It took only 9 months for Narendra Modi from being very popular in India in May 2014 to becoming extremely unpopular ( as the Delhi Assembly elections have conclusively proved ) in February 2015. I submit that the same will happen to Arvind Kejriwal, from being very popular to becoming highly unpopular.

Why do I say this ? For the same reason as applied to Modi, that is, promising the moon, but delivering little.

 Kejriwal's main plank, borrowed from Anna Hazare's agitation, was honesty. Leaving aside Mr. Shanti Bhushan's allegation against him, Kejriwal, apart from taking some superficial measures like suspending some babus, will never be able to implement his programme of integrity in administration ( see my article ' India in Transition and Corrupt ' on my blog ).

 This is because politicians can only make schemes and policies, but it is the bureaucracy which has to implement them, and unfortunately the bureaucracy in India has largely become corrupt. So even schemes sounding good on paper become sources of making money.

Kejriwal is not stupid. He knows that if he seriously tries to eliminate corruption he will create so many enemies that they will gang up against him and destroy him. So he will do nothing of the sort. He will pay only lip service to eliminating corruption, and take only a few cosmetic, superficial steps in that direction, knowing that if he goes beyond that he will certainly land up in deep trouble.

But then people of Delhi will ask : what has happened to your promise to eliminate corruption ? And this will soon start making him unpopular. Public opinion is fickle.

 Of course Kejriwal may make some slight dent in the electricity and water problems of the people of Delhi, which is indeed a major problem for them, and one of the main reasons why they voted for him. But here too it will not be smooth sailing. After all, electricity is supplied by private companies, which work for profit, not charity. If electricity bills are halved, as Kejriwal has promised, will they run on losses ?

 Moreover, even assuming Kejriwal is personally honest, where is the guarantee that the other AAP MLAs and other partymen will also be the same ?

 As regards the major problems of poverty, unemployment, price rise, malnutrition, healthcare and good education, I am afraid Kejriwal has no clue how to solve them. Of course he has promised many more schools and hospitals, but which politician does not promise the moon ?

 I have carefully studied Kejriwal's speeches and writings, and have come to the conclusion that there is nothing in the man, just as there is nothing in Rahul Gandhi or Modi. Kejriwal has no scientific ideas about how to solve the massive problems facing the Indian people.

 People of Delhi voted for AAP in February, 2015  because they were disgusted with BJP and Modi and wanted a change, just as Indians voted for Modi in May 2014 because they were disgusted with Congress and wanted a change.

It took just 9 months, from May 2014 to February 2015, for the public mood to swing from one extreme to another for Modi. The pendulum may take even lesser time for Kejriwal

 What is there in Kejriwal ? I think he is only a demagogue, who has no real solution to the peoples' problems, as people will themselves realize after some time. They have only exchanged one Sapnon ka Saudagar ( seller of dreams ) for another.

 I read Kejriwal's book ' Swaraj '. In that book Kejriwal says that we must transfer power from Delhi to the gram panchayats and mohalla panchayats. This is sentimental nonsense. Everyone with even a little knowledge of realities knows that most of such panchayats are hotbeds of petty caste politics and centres of corruption.

 It is general knowledge that officials ( or their kith and kin ) of gram panchayats have illegally grabbed most of the gram sabha land, which was meant for public use of the villagers ( as pointed out by me in my judgment in the Supreme Court in Jagpal Singh vs. State of Punjab, 2011, which may be seen online ), and often do all kinds of other misdeeds for the benefit of themselves or their kith and kin.

 I no doubt supported Kejriwal in his tussle with Najeeb Jung on the issue as to who can appoint senior officers in the Delhi Administration, because on this issue Kejriwal is right ( for the reasons I have given in my post ), and Najeeb Jung was behaving like a shameless Faust and His Master's Voice.

But that does not mean that I have changed my opinion about Kejriwal. There is nothing in the man except his big ego and his Sancho Panza type chamchas

Have no illusions about Arvind Kejriwal

This is a fb message I received
Jun 1st, 11:36pm

Hi Sir,
I guess I agree with most of your posts. So just want to ask you what is your opinion about Arvind Kejriwal? And if you agree that he is an anti-corruption crusader doing something good for our country then would you like to join this fight against corruption?

This was my reply :

You are mistaken about Kejriwal. He has by now become a seasoned politician,  like all other of our crafty politicians. He will not really fight against corruption, but only give a show of fighting against it. He is not a fool. He knows that corruption is so deeply entrenched in India that whoever genuinely and sincerely fights against it will be eliminated by the Indian mafia ( which includes politicians, big businessmen, land and building mafia, etc ). He has no desire to commit hara kiri, and will do everything to stick to his chair, like all politicians.

 So he will only pay lip service to fighting corruption by suspending some clerks etc, while not seriously attacking the big sharks, though he will make a pretence of doing so, e.g. his statements against Ambani, Adani, etc which were mere statements. After all, words break no bones.

Who is correct, Najeeb Jung or Kejriwal ?

In the present conflict between Najeeb Jung and Kejriwal several people have asked me for my opinion as to who is correct ?

 My opinion is : Kejriwal is correct. Let me explain

1. Before coming to Article 239AA of the Constitution, the Government of NCT of Delhi Act, 1991, and the Transaction of Business of the Government Rules, 1993, we should first consider the matter from the historical perspective.

 In ancient and  medieval times, the king was supreme. However after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the principle of democracy and Parliamentary Sovereignty have been firmly established in England and elsewhere. Now it is not the king but the people who are supreme, and they excercize their 'general will', as Rousseau called it, through their representatives in the legislature.

2. What power, if any, does the British king now have ?

According to the eminent constitutional expert Walter Bagehot ( 1826-1877 ), as mentioned in his well known book 'The English Constitution', the British King still has 3 rights :(1) the right to be consulted, (2) the right to encourage, and (3) the right to warn. But apart from these very limited rights, he has to act in accordance with the advice of the Council of Ministers.

3. In Shamsher Singh vs. State of Punjab, A.I.R. 1974 S.C.2192 a 7 Judge bench of the Indian Supreme Court held that the President and Governors in India are like the British King. In other words, they have to act on the advice of the Council of Ministers, and not on their own discretion. This was the legal position even before the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution which amended Article 74 by adding the words " who shall act on the advice of the Council of Ministers ". Thus, the 42nd Amendment only clarified the law, and did not change it

  As explained by the Supreme Court in Shamsher Singh's judgment, the expression ' aid and advice ' is only a term of art, and it does not mean that the President or Governor has any discretion in the matter. He has to act according to the advice given by the Council of Ministers, and this is obvious once it is realized that we are living in a democracy, where people rule themselves ( through their elected representatives ). The President of India and the Governors are only formal heads, like the British King

4. It is true that Delhi is not a full fledged state, and certain powers e.g. relating to police and land, are with the Central Government.

 However, Delhi is also not a Union Territory, after the 69th Constitutional Amendment which introduced Articla 239AA. Unlike a Union Territory, it has a legislature and a Council of Ministers.

Article 239AA (4) of the Constitution says " There shall be a Council of Ministers with a Chief Minister at the head to aid and advise the Lt. Governor in the excercize of his functions in reference to matters with respect to which the Lt. Governor has power to make laws, except insofar as he is, by or under law required to act in his discretion "

The expression ' aid and advise ' has to treated as a term of art, as held by the Supreme Court in Shamsher Singh's case, and not literally, otherwise democracy will be subverted.

Article 239(6) says that " The Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Assembly ".. This provision incorporates the principle of democracy that the people rule themselves, through their elected representatives. The stand of Mr. Najeeb Jung is thus totally untenable.

 Mr Najeeb Jung claims that he has the authority to appoint officers of the Delhi Government at his discretion, while Kejriwal claims he does not. Assuming that there is some legal uncertainty on this matter, the democratic way of resolving it is that we accept Mr. Kejriwal's view, because he is an elected functionary, and head of a democratically elected body, while Najeeb Jung is not.

 It is evident that Najeeb Jung is behaving like His Master's Voice. Like Faust, he has sold his soul to a Mephistopheles

The Future of the Aam Admi Party

How does one explain the phenomenal victory of the Aam Admi Party in the Delhi elections of February ? I would like to give my own analysis.

1. Delhi is broadly a city of traders and shopkeepers, i.e. middle and small businessmen. Earlier, these were represented by the B.J.P. while Congress represented big business. With the decimation of Congress, B.J.P. now represents big business, and AAP has filled in the vacuum, and now represents the small and middle business class ( Kejriwal himself declared in an election speech that he is a bania who knows how to do dhandha ).

2. An important issue for Delhiites was electricity and water bills which were often inflated. AAP was the only party which seriously addressed this issue.

3. The minorities solidly voted for A AP, as they felt insecure due to 'ghar wapasi',etc

4. The youth, who had voted en masse for BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in May 2014 as they thought ;vikas' meant creation of millions of jobs ( and jobs are all that youth are interested in ), were totally disillusioned as the jobs promised were not there, and so they vented their frustration by voting for AAP.

 5. AAP presented itself as 'a party with a difference', characterized by transparency, accountability and democratic nature, which made it very attractive in this era of scams.

  Now that it has come to power in Delhi, I submit that AAP will become, or rather has already become, like a conventional political party like others. Consider the following :

a.After the recent developments in which dissidents have been expelled,  AAP, like other parties, has become dictatorial, with one person in command, and little scope for dissent. Those still in the party will obey the maxim 'Billee oonth le gayi, to haan ji haan ji kehna', i.e.' If the leader says that a cat has carried away a camel, just say : of course, of course'. In other words, become a sycophant, if you wish to survive.

b. Lumpen elements are used as musclemen or bouncers to silence dissent, if need be by strong arm methods, like Hitler's S.S.

c. Loyalty, not principles, is the most important thing. So the party functionaries and MLAs will be given a long rope, and a Nelson's eye will be turned by the leader to their wrong doings as long as they are loyal and don't cross certain limits.

 Mr. Kejriwal is not a fool. He knows that corruption is so deeply entrenched in the system that anyone who seriously tries to suppress it will get into trouble, as the powerful people will gang up against him. So he will pay only lip service to fighting corruption, by, say, suspending some clerks, while not genuinely going after the big sharks.

 But this will be contradictory to his professed principles. You cannot fool all the people all the time.

And so I predict that AAP will become very unpopular in a very short time when people see through the great gap between what it preaches and what it practices.

Chamche nearey raakhiye

Arvind Kejriwal got a fantastic opportunity, but has blown it.

 After AAP got 67 seats in the Delhi election, Kejriwal had such an excellent opportunity of doing many things. But the way he has behaved recently shows he is a small man, and people should not expect anything from him except some stunts regarding water and electricity.

Prashant Bhushan raised some valid issues, and if he had any statesman like qualities Kejriwal should have addressed those issues and corrected his weaknesses, particularly his desire to over centralize. But, as I have repeatedly said, there is nothing in the man, except his ego, and he cannot take criticism

 Kejriwal has done a drama by not attending the AAP meeting in Delhi on the pretext of health treatment at Bangalore. However, it is apparent that he had instructed his Sancho Panzas ( chamchas  ) to get Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav removed from the P.A.C..

Aam Admi ki Sarkar

This is a message I got on facebook. I thought i may share it with you all. I have deleted the sender's name

Hello Sir,

I really liked  your posts " AAP workers should be made Special Officers ' ? , 'I Love Lucy' and 'The genii is out of the bottle', for two reasons:

1) All posts are based on solid facts and reasons which are hard to refute even by AAP supporters

 2) Its a constructive criticism as you have warned Kejriwal of controlling these unruly white capped AAP workers, which is very true.

Sir you are absolutely right, when you said every Delhiite wearing a white cap is now considering himself as  the King of Delhi and issuing orders to officials. The officials are also scared of them.

The other day only, one of my affluent neighbors said that he will not pay for his water and electricity bills, falsely claiming that they are inflated, and will seek a reduction from the govt.

 I asked him that despite being well- off why are you not paying the bills honestly, failing which the company will cut-off your connection?

He replied," Ab to Aam Aadmi ki Sarkar hai, ab koi afsar hamaara kuch nahi bigaad sakta."

I am afraid that now the people living in illegal colonies in Delhi ( who are around 40-50 lakhs) will also start doing the same, which seems quite probable, and then the electricity companies will stop  distributing  electricity and close down, plunging Delhi into darkness..

Regards

AAP workers should be made Special Officers

It seems to me that the biggest problem for Kejriwal now is not how to solve the problems of Delhi but how to control the hundreds of thousands of unruly white capped AAP workers, who are spread all over Delhi, and who all now claim to be its kings. Like the hundreds of thousands of stormtroopers ( S.A.) who helped Hitler come to power in January 1933, and then demanded their pound of flesh, the AAP stormtroopers will naturally demand the same, in some form or the other.

 Hitler of course solved the problem by bumping of Ernst Roehm and the other top leadership of the S.A. in the ' Night of the Long Knives ', but poor Kejriwal can hardly do the same.

 Most of the lumpen elements in Delhi ( and there are hundreds of thousands of them ) now seem to have joined AAP. They shift their loyalties quickly to whichever party comes to power.

 In this situation I have a suggestion to make to Kejriwal : he should appoint all AAP workers as Honorary Special officers of Delhi. 

 These ' Special Officers ' need not be paid anything by the government. But they should be given the power to realize from the people of Delhi as much as they require, by whatever means they think best.

Comments on my posts on Kejriwal

Many persons have furiously attacked me through their comments on my previous posts regarding Arvind Kejriwal, some even abusing or insulting me, calling me insane, asking how such a person could have been appointed a Supreme Court Judge ?, etc, etc.

 Well, I am quite accustomed to abuses, vituperations, vilification and insults on the social media ( just as some people cannot do without hurling them ), but what do these people have to say about my three posts about Kejriwal on my facebook page and my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in (1) The Reality about  Arvind  Kejriwal, (2) Corruption and Kejriwal, and (3) Once again on the Aam Admi Party ? My article ' India in Transition and Corrupt ' may also be read in this connection.

 In these articles I have given detailed reasons for the view I have expressed about Kejriwal. If my reasoning is incorrect, please point out where and how ? But hurling invective, insults, vituperations and abuses, without giving rational arguments,has no effect on me, and is to no avail, rather it exposes the sub standard intellects and parenting of those who indulge in it..

The Reality about Arvind Kejriwal

It took only 9 months for Narendra Modi from being very popular in India in May 2014 to becoming extremely unpopular ( as the Delhi Assembly elections have conclusively proved ) in February 2015. I submit that it will take an even lesser time for Arvind Kejriwal from being very popular to becoming highly unpopular.

Why do I say this ? For the same reason as applied to Modi, that is, promising the moon, but delivering little.

 Kejriwal's main plank, borrowed from Anna Hazare's agitation, was honesty. Leaving aside Mr. Shanti Bhushan's allegation against him, Kejriwal, apart from taking some superficial measures like suspending some babus, will never be able to implement his programme of integrity in administration ( see my article ' India in Transition and Corrupt ' on my blog ).

 This is because politicians can only make schemes and policies, but it is the bureaucracy which has to implement them, and unfortunately the bureaucracy in India has largely become corrupt. So even good schemes like MNREGA become sources of making money.

Kejriwal is not stupid. He knows that if he seriously tries to eliminate corruption he will create so many enemies that they will gang up against him and destroy him. So he will do nothing of the sort. He will pay only lip service to eliminating corruption, and take only a few cosmetic, superficial steps in that direction, knowing that if he goes beyond that he will certainly land up in deep trouble.

But then people of Delhi will ask : what has happened to your promise to eliminate corruption ? And this will soon start making him unpopular. Public opinion is fickle.

 Of course Kejriwal may make some slight dent in the electricity and water problems of the people of Delhi, which is indeed a major problem for them, and one of the main reasons why they voted for him. But here too it will not be smooth sailing. After all, electricity is supplied by private companies, which work for profit, not charity. If electricity bills are halved, as Kejriwal has promised, will they run on losses ?

 Moreover, even assuming Kejriwal is personally honest, where is the guarantee that the other AAP MLAs and other partymen will also be the same ?

 As regards the major problems of poverty, unemployment, price rise, malnutrition, healthcare and good education, I am afraid Kejriwal has no clue how to solve them. Of course he has promised many more schools and hospitals, but which politician does not promise the moon ?

 I have carefully studied Kejriwal's speeches and writings, and have come to the conclusion that there is nothing in the man, just as there is nothing in Rahul Gandhi or Modi. Kejriwal has no scientific ideas about how to solve the massive problems facing the Indian people.

 People of Delhi voted for AAP in February, 2015  because they were disgusted with BJP and Modi and wanted a change, just as Indians voted for Modi in May 2014 because they were disgusted with Congress and wanted a change.

It took just 9 months, from May 2014 to February 2015, for the public mood to swing from one extreme to another for Modi. I predict that the pendulum will take even lesser time for Kejriwal

 What is there in Kejriwal ? I think he is only a demagogue, who has no real solution to the peoples' problems, as people will themselves realize after some time. They have only exchanged one Sapnon ka Saudagar ( seller of dreams ) for another.

 I read Kejriwal's book ' Swaraj '. In that book Kejriwal says that we must transfer power from Delhi to the gram panchayats and mohalla panchayats. This is sentimental nonsense. Everyone with even a little knowledge of realities knows that most of such panchayats are hotbeds of petty caste politics and centres of corruption. It is general knowledge that officials ( or their kith and kin ) of gram panchayats have illegally grabbed most of the gram sabha land, which was meant for public use of the villagers ( as pointed out by me in my judgment in the Supreme Court in Jagpal Singh vs. State of Punjab, 2011, which may be seen online ), and often do all kinds of other misdeeds for the benefit of themselves or their kith and kin..

The Delhi Elections

 Out of the 70 seats in the Delhi Legislative Assembly, the Aam Admi party is leading in 64, with both BJP and Congress decimated. I had predicted 45-50 seats for AAP, but certainly not 64.

The problems for Mr. Kejriwal and AAP will begin now.

 I have no doubt that Mr. Kejriwal is personally an honest person, and intends to do good.However I am sceptical about how much he can do, and that for the following reasons :

1. The whole system in India has become so rotten that I doubt that it can be repaired by anyone, however well meaning.. Politicians can prepare all kinds of schemes and policies, but it is the bureaucrats who have to implement them, and unfortunately the bureaucracy in India, from top to bottom, has largely become corrupt. So even the best schemes usually end up as another source of making illegal money.

2.Mr. Kejriwal may be personally honest, but are all other MLAs and partymen of AAP also the same ?

3. How will Mr. Kejriwal solve the massive problems of price rise, unemployment, malnutrition, healthcare,etc ? I have grave doubts whether he has a solution to any of these problems. They certainly cannot be solved by sitting on a dharna.

 I personally believe that the solutions to India's massive problems lie outside the system, and Kejriwal is within the system

  However, since AAP has just now been elected let us give them a chance and see their performance, though with fingers crossed

The Delhi Elections

I strongly recommend all Delhi voters to vote for the Aam Admi Party in the coming elections for the Delhi Assembly.

Before I give my reasons, I wish to make one thing clear, and this clarification is necessary because some people commented on some of my previous posts asking how much has been given or offered to me by Mr. Kejriwal.

 My answer is : nothing. Nothing has been offered or given to me by him. In fact I have never even met Mr. Kejriwal  in my life. Any one can verify this from Mr. Kejriwal.

 I have studied Mr. Kejriwal ( through the media ), and my opinion about him, which I have expressed earlier also, is that he is an upright man, who genuinely wishes to do good. He was earlier impulsive and impatient, but he has realized his mistakes and has learnt from them.

 As regards the BJP, I have already given my views in my articles ' The Party is Over' and ' Why Delhiites should vote for AAP ' on facebook and my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in

My reasons why Delhi voters should vote for AAP are as follows :

1. As explained in my article ' Why Delhiites should vote for AAP ', Delhi is mainly a city of shopkeepers and traders i.e. small and middle level businessmen. Earlier, the Jan Sangh, which later became the BJP represented these classes, while Congress represented big business. Now Congress has been decimated ( largely due to its own misdeeds ), and now BJP has become the party of big business ( or at least a section of it ), while in Delhi AAP represents small and middle businessmen. So it is in the interests of Delhiites to vote for a party which will represent them.

2. One of the main problems of Delhiites is electricity and water bills, and AAP  is the only party which has shown an inclination to address this issue seriously

3. As regards BJP, everybody now realizes that the slogan of 'vikas' was bluff, illusion and sham rhetoric for winning the votes of the Indian youth who were unemployed, or who had the prospect of unemployment staring at them, and thought that vikas meant creation of millions of jobs for them. Instead, the Indian economy is stagnant, and there are lay offs ( see my articles ' The Party is Over '  and ' The Dream has Evaporated ' on fb and my blog )

4. All that BJP has is hatred of minorities. It pretends to be a party representing Hindus, but that is a sham and a pretence. In fact the BJP leaders have no idea of the great Hindu intellectualism, the real contribution of Hindus in science, literature, law, grammar, etc and instead by substituting falsehood for truth dilute the latter and make us a laughing stock before the whole world ( see my articles ' Mixing the True with the Untrue '  and ' Making us a laughing stock ' on fb and my blog ).

5. As regards Congress, the less said about it the better. During the rule of UPA scam followed scam, and Sonia Gandhi has yet to render accounts about them. As regards Rahul Gandhi, is any comment necessary for this boy ?  .

Why Delhiites should vote for AAP

Delhi is basically a city of shopkeepers and traders, that is, of small and middle businessmen.

 Earlier, broadly, in India the Congress used to be economically the party of big businessmen, while the Jan Sangh, which later became the BJP, was the party of small and middle businessmen in many parts of India.

  Now the Congress stands decimated, and the BJP has broadly become the party of big business  in India, or at least a section of big business whose interests it represents and promotes. The Aam Admi Party, at least in Delhi, now represents the small and middle business class.

 This being so, it is clearly in the interest of Delhiites to vote for the Aam Admi Party in the coming Delhi Assembly elections

 My impression of its leader, Arvind Kejriwal, is that though he had some defects ( he was impulsive and impatient ) he is a man of integrity, and has learnt from his mistakes, and is removing his defects. He will work for the interests of Delhiites who have been plagued with exorbitant electricity and water bills and other woes

The Modern Mir Jafar

A person was offered the lollipop of Chief Ministership of Delhi by the party which she had repeatedly called corrupt during Anna Hazare's agitation, but which she has now willingly embraced, and whose leader she has described as having the most beautiful face in the world.  She had condemned Kejriwal for entering politics, an act which she has now done herself.. Her rank and crass opportunism reminded me of Mir Jafar and Robert Browning's poem ' The Lost Leader '

Now she is promising the moon to Delhiites

 Boojho tu jaani !

The Delhi Assembly Election

After Narendra Modi's rally yesterday ( 10.1.2015 ) at the Ramlila ground in Delhi, I am convinced now that the AAP is going to get a clear majority in the Delhi Assembly elections next month. This is for two reasons :

(1) Despite all out efforts by the BJP which is in power in the centre to bring huge crowds to the rally ( by reportedly hiring 2300 vehicles and even bringing homeless people by offering them food ), there was a poor turnout, leaving many empty seats, which is said to have angered the party leadership.

According to the estimate of the Delhi police, only 35,000 people attended the rally ( see today's 'The Hindu', page 4 ), as compared to 1.35 lacs in Modi's Delhi rally in September 2013.

  The reason for this poor attendance seems to be obvious: in the 7 months since the BJP came to power in the Centre, people have seen through the emptiness of the magic mantra 'vikas', which won the Lok Sabha Election for it in May 2014.

There was a time when wherever Modi went there were massive crowds. Those days are gone, as people have seen their high expectations dashed completely. The millions of jobs which were impliedly promised in the name of 'vikas' are not to be seen anywhere, and most businessmen ( except a handful close to Modi ) are very worried.

(2)  Modi's speech was basically negative : attacking Kejriwal as an anarchist who should join the naxals, etc.

Thus Modi seems to have himself realized that the slogan 'vikas' no longer works.

 In an earlier post I had mentioned that to win an election something positive has to be offered which the people want.

While Kejriwal is offering something positive i.e. lowering of electricity tariff and bills, and abolition of water charges for the lower segments, etc. which Delhiites are very concerned about, Modi is indulging in only negative talk ( personal attacks on Kejriwal). Of course Modi also spoke of giving 24 hours electricity to Delhi people, but that was more to counter Kejriwal's agenda, and nobody believes it.

 Kejriwal is an impulsive and impatient man, but he is basically honest, and will learn from his mistakes. People of Delhi believe that his good points outweigh his bad points, and have forgiven him

The Delhi Assembly Elections

I have a feeling that precisely for the reason why BJP got a majority in the Lok Sabha election 2014, AAP may get a majority in the Delhi Assembly election, 2015.

 The reason is this : people in India want a positive dream to go for, like the children following the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

 When Indira Gandhi gave the slogan ' Garibi Hatao ', her opponents had no positive dream to counter this, and so people voted in droves for her party. Similarly when Modi gave the positive  slogan ' Vikas ', the Congress had no positive slogan to match it.

 Now AAP has given the positive slogan of 'Honesty' and reduction of electricity and water bills, while BJP has no positive slogan to match it. Evidently the 'people have seen through the ' Vikas' slogan, and have realized it was empty gas. Muslims, of whom there are a large number in Delhi, will as usual, vote for the strongest non BJP party ( and after 'ghar wapasi' and 'haraamzade' they will vote en bloc ). Since Congress has given a walk over by retaining the discredited Sonia and Rahul Gandhi as its leader, that leaves only AAP.

 It is another matter that after AAP comes to power ( assuming it does ) people will soon get to know that they were only sold a dream, and that there is no substantial change. But that realization will come only later. At present there is a positive dream presented by AAP ( while BJP has none ),and people are likely to go for it.

 However, I may be wrong in my assessment.

Kejriwal's travel to Dubai

A big hue and cry is being raised over Arvind Kejriwal's travelling to Dubai in business class to collect an award. AAP supporters say that the organizers had arranged for the air ticket.

 In my opinion all this is not very relevant.

What is relevant is whether Kejriwal has any scientific ideas to solve the country's massive socio-economic problems of poverty,  unemployment , malnutrition, price rise, lack of healthcare, etc.

 I am afraid he has none. He has only one thing to talk about, which is corruption.

 I have explained in detail, giving reasons, that corruption is the normal feature of the transitional era through which India is passing, and it will last until the transition from a feudal to an industrial society is over ( see my article ' India in Transition and Corrupt ' on my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in ).

 I am not justifying corruption. In fact I have fought against it throughout my judicial career. For instance, I raised the issue about a corrupt Madras High Court Judge, about whom there was such a hue and cry. I gave the judgment in Raja Khan vs. State of U. P.,2011 ( see online ) in which I said that something is rotten in the Allahabad High Court. I can give several other example too of my fight against corruption. But what I believe is that corruption will not be eliminated in this transition period in our history, and those who say otherwise are creating illusions.

 For instance, when England was getting industrialized there was massive corruption in English society. Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of England, from 1721 to 1742, used to openly say that  he can purchase everybody. Lord Clive, Warren Hastings, etc made huge fortunes by looting India. Later, when the industrialization of England was completed, the level of corruption went considerably down.

  I am not saying that there is no corruption in developed countries like U.S.A. England, France, Germany, Japan, etc. But corruption there does not affect the common man in those countries. For instance, policemen, tax authorities, etc there do not normally take bribes. Bribes in these countries are given by multi-national corporations to Ministers, Generals, bureaucrats, etc of foreign countries ( usually of underdeveloped countries ) to get contracts. So corruption in developed countries is not at the level of the common man.

  In underdeveloped countries like India, Pakistan, etc, on the other hand, corruption is at every level, and this will last for a long time..

 So we cannot equate the two.

  When I presented my views on this issue some people commented that should we just hold up our hands and do nothing about corruption ? My answer is that you can do what you like, but the truth is that corruption in India is very deep and widespread, and is going to last a long time

 Therefore those who talk of abolishing corruption at this stage of Indian history are really creating 

illusions. It is time Indians know the truth, however harsh it may seem, instead of jumping from one illusion to another, as they have been doing at least since a political leader gave the slogan 'Garibi Hatao '.

Arvind Kejriwal's book ' Swaraj ' is a lot of nonsense..

 Kejriwal's basic thesis in this book is that the solution to India's problems is that power, which is presently in the hands of politicians in Delhi and big businessmen, should be transferred to gram sabhas and mohalla sabhas.

 Everybody with even a little knowledge of social realities knows that most gram sabhas ( though not all ) are corrupt and casteist bodies, usually dominated by big landlords, kulaks and/or money lenders, either directly, or through their henchmen. So also are mohalla area sabhas ( by whatever name called ). Those who dominate in such bodies usually work for themselves, by getting gram sabha land allotted to their family members or henchmen, or doing other misdeeds, and not for the welfare of the villagers as a whole.

 In the Supreme Court I gave a judgment, Jagpal Singh vs. State of Punjab, 2011 ( along with Justice Gyansudha Mishra )  it was mentioned that in many states.almost all of the gram sabha land, which was meant for the common benefit of the villagers for various purposes, has been surreptitiously allotted to, and occupied by the gram sabha pradhans or other office bearers of the gram sabha, or their relatives or henchmen. Quoted below is an extract from that judgment :

  " Since time immemorial there have been common lands inhering in the village communities in India, variously called gram sabha land, gram panchayat land, (in many North Indian States), shamlat deh (in Punjab etc.), mandaveli and poramboke land (in South India), Kalam, Maidan, etc., depending on the nature of user. These public utility lands in the villages were for centuries used for the common benefit of the villagers of the village such as ponds for various purposes e.g. for their cattle to drink and bathe, for storing their harvested grain, as grazing ground for the cattle, threshing floor, maidan for playing by children, carnivals, circuses, ramlila, cart stands, water bodies, passages, cremation ground or graveyards, etc. These lands stood vested through local laws in the State, which handed over their management to Gram Sabhas/Gram Panchayats. They were generally treated as inalienable in order that their status as community land be preserved. There were no doubt some exceptions to this rule which permitted the Gram Sabha/Gram Panchayat to lease out some of this land to landless labourers and members of the scheduled castes/tribes, but this was only to be done in exceptional cases.

4. The protection of commons rights of the villagers were so zealously protected that some legislation expressly mentioned that even the vesting of the property with the State did not mean that the common rights of villagers were lost by such vesting. Thus, in Chigurupati Venkata Subbayya vs. Paladuge Anjayya, 1972(1) SCC 521 (529) this Court observed :

"It is true that the suit lands in view of Section 3 of the Estates Abolition Act did vest in the Government. That by itself does not mean that the rights of the community over it were taken away. Our attention has not been invited to any provision of law under which the rights of the community over those lands can be said to have been taken away. The rights of the community over the suit lands were not created by the landholder. Hence those rights cannot be said to have been abrogated by Section 3) of the Estates Abolition Act."

5. What we have witnessed since Independence, however, is that in large parts of the country this common village land has been grabbed by unscrupulous persons using muscle power, money power or political clout, and in many States now there is not an inch of such land left for the common use of the people of the village, though it may exist on paper. People with power and pelf operating in villages all over India systematically encroached upon communal lands and put them to uses totally inconsistent with its original character, for personal aggrandizement at the cost of the village community. This was done with active connivance of the State authorities and local powerful vested interests and goondas. This appeal is a glaring example of this lamentable state of affairs."

  Apart from the above, Mr. Kejriwal does not mention how he intends to solve the massive economic problems facing the country, which is basically because of the massive poverty and consequential lack of purchasing power in the Indian masses ( see my article ' World Economic Recession ' on my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in and on my facbook page ). In fact Mr. Kejriwal has no ideas about this