The party with a differenceAA

Although I had strongly criticized Congress and BJP in the past, of late I had been criticizing AAP. Why ?
That is because I wanted to remove the illusion from your heads that AAP was ' a party with a difference ' i.e the only party in India of honest people.
At one time Advani had also boasted that BJP was a party with ' a difference '.
I submit that no political party in India can be really honest, and therefore there is no such thing as a ' party with a difference '
Just consider one aspect : it costs a huge amount of money for contesting elections. An MP Lok Sabha election would cost each candidate about 8-10 crores, and a MLA election 5-8 crores. Where does this money come from ? Obviously by corruption. So how can any party be honest in India ?
And those candidates who spend so much money in their elections obviously treat it as an invertment. If they spend Rs.10 crores, they want a return of Rs. 50 crores, if they win, on this investment. Obviously this can only come through corruption. Part of this Rs. 50 crores is invested in some business and part saved for the next election . So how can any party be honest ?
I never praised BJP and Congress. But they are already exposed parties, so nothing more needs to be said against them.
But AAP was claiming to be a party with a difference, and so had to be exposed.
Indira Gandhi's sham slogan ' gharibi hatao ' ensured her victory in the 1971.
Before the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections many of you were carried away by the rhetoric of 'vikas' by that dramabaz Modi, and like sheep and cattle voted for him.
Now like sheep and cattle many of you are being carried away by the dramatic antics of that fraud and slick operator Kejriwal.
Like the children following the Pied Piper of Hamelin you will follow any fake trickster, deceiver, charlatan, humbug and confidence man who for the moment has caught your fancy, without using your brains.
Well good luck to you. But dont blame me if wisdom dawns on you some time in the future regarding the truth about this ' party with a difference '..

Arrest of Dinesh Mohaniya

The AAP MLA Dinesh Mohania was arrested by the Delhi police. The charge against Mohaniya was that he had misbehaved with a group of women who had approached him with a complaint of water crisis in their locality.

I am not going into the question whether the charge was true or false, as that will be decided by the Court on the evidence. I do not have the evidence with me, and therefore I cannot comment on it.

I am, however, on a much more fundamental issue. Where was the need of arresting Mohaniya ? In my opinion the police could have made an investigation and could have interrogated Mohaniya without arresting him. Let me explain the legal position in this connection.

It may be mentioned that arrest is not a must in every case where an F.I.R. of a cognizable offence is registered with the police. This is obvious from section 157 (1) Criminal Procedure Code. which reads :

" 157. Procedure for investigation

(1) If, from information received or otherwise, an officer in charge of a police station has reason to suspect the commission of an offence which he is empowered under section 156 to investigate, he shall forthwith send a report of the same to a Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of such offence upon a police report and shall proceed in person, or shall depute one of his subordinate officers not being below such rank as the State Government may, by general or special order, prescribe in this behalf, to proceed, to the spot, to investigate the facts and circumstances of the case, and, if necessary, to take measures for the discovery and arrest of the offender; "

The use of the words "and, if necessary " in the above provision clearly indicates that it is not incumbent on the police to arrest in every case, rather it is discretionary. And this discretion has to be excercised depending on the gravity of the offence. If the charge was of murder, dacoity , rape or some such serious offence, then of course the arrest could have been justified, but this was not a case of such a nature.

In Joginder Kumar vs. State of U. P. A.I.R. 1994 S.C. 1349 ( see online ) the Supreme Court observed : " No arrest can be made because it is lawful for the police officer to do so. The existence of the power to arrest is one thing. The justification for the exercise of it is quite another.The police officer must be able to justify the arrest apart from his power to do so. Arrest and detention in police lock-up of a person can cause incalculable harm to the reputation and self-esteem of a person. No arrest can be made in a routine manner on a mere allegation of commission of an offence made against a person. It would be prudent for a police officer in the interest of protection of the constitutional rights of a citizen and perhaps in his own interest that no arrest should be made without a reasonable satisfaction reached after some investigation as to the genuineness and bona fides of a complaint and a reasonable belief both as to the person's complicity and even so as to the need to effect arrest. Denying a person of his liberty is a serious matter. "

Thus the Supreme Court has held that arrest is not a must in every case. In the same decision the Supreme Court has noted that the National Police Commission in its Third Report has observed that 60% arrests in India are unnecessary or unjustified, and that arrests are a major source of corruption in the police.

Unfortunately in our country the practice of our police has been that the moment an F.I.R. is lodged it goes to make an arrest. But this is an illegal practice, as pointed out above.

In my opinion arrest was unnecessary in this case. If the police wished to interrogate Mohaniya and investigate the allegations against him, they could have done so without arresting him. Aftefr all he was not going to abscond..

It is time now that the correct legal position be made known to all policemen.

The AAP leaders have alleged that the arrest of Mohaniya was at the instance of the Central Govt,

I do not know whether this allegation is true or not, but if it is true, the policemen concerned who carried out this illegal order of their political masters can not escape accountability on the pretext that orders are orders.

In the Nuremburg Trials after the Second World War the Nazi War criminals took plea that orders are orders, and that they were only carrying out the orders of their political master Hitler. However, this plea was rejected, and many of the accused were sentenced to be hanged.

So our policemen should heed this warning : they must not carry out illegal orders, whether written or oral, of political masters or their superiors, otherwise they themselves may be given severe punishment

Next Punjab government will be an AAP government.

I rarely go out, but today early morning I went for swimming. I used to swim a lot in my younger days, and know many of the swimming strokes e.g crawl, breast stroke, butterfly stroke, back stroke, etc. Now that I am old, I do it rarely, but enjoy it whenever I do. It is wonderful exercise and I recommend it to all of you especially youngsters.

After swimming I went to Saravana Bhavan at Connaught Place to have some breakfast. It is a south Indian restaurant, one of a world wide chain. I remember I had been to a Saravana restaurant in California last year.

As a Judge I hardly ever went to CP, although it was just a few miles from my official residence on Akbar Road, where I lived for several years.

There was a huge crowd in front of the CP restaurant, waiting for their number to get in. One has to register for getting a table and there is a long waiting time. After getting inside with a friend, I went to a table for two, and ordered cold coffee with ice-cream and butter masala dosa. The dosa was huge and crisp and delicious to eat.

An elderly Sikh couple were sitting at a table next to mine. I did not know them, but the Sikh gentleman, a retired banker, who is from Chandigarh, recognized me and we started talking. I told them that I have been to Punjab several times lately, and found things very bad. There were farmer suicides, wide spread drug addiction, huge corruption etc. (about which I had mentioned in my speech at Chandigarh which is on YouTube). I said that there is massive support of AAP in Punjab. Many people there told me that they had tried governments of Congress and Akali Dal, and found both useless and corrupt. So this time they will vote for 'jhadoo'. He agreed with me, and said that the next Punjab government will be an AAP government.

Nitish and Kejriwal

Some people have asked me why I have now praised Arvind Kejriwal when I had often criticized him in the past.

It is true that earlier I had criticized him because I did not like some things he did e.g. allotting Rs. 536 crores in the Delhi budget for propaganda, the odd even scheme ( which has not reduced pollution ) etc.

But no one is perfect. We are all a combination of good and bad points.
What many persons have been telling me is about the good things Kejriwal has done for Delhi :

(1) He has setup mohalla clinics which provide free medicines and medical care for the poor people of Delhi. This was very much needed since the poor people are often too poor to afford medical care.

(2) He has provided free water to those who consume not more than 20,000 litres per month, and has reduced by half the electricity bills. This is a great relief to the common man

(3) He has got abolished the fee hike in educational institutions, e.g. Delhi Public School. This again is a great relief, as many people could not afford to pay the hiked fees

(4) Businessmen in Delhi are also happy by the reduction of VAT from 12% to 7%, and his strong objection to hike in taxes on jewelry shops etc.

My perception is that Kejriwal is personally honest and intends to do good to the people of Delhi. But he is new in politics and so lacks experience. That is why I suggested him for the post of Deputy Prime Minister, and not Prime Minister However, he will get experience and maturity with passage of time..
He must choose his advisers better ( at present many are only sycophants ).

Many people have criticized me for suggesting Nitish Kumar as the next Prime Minister. I have followed Nitish Kumar's career carefully. He had earlier made some mistakes, for which I had criticized him. But now he seems to have overcome those errors. I have not heard anything against his personal integrity. He is mature and experienced, qualities which Kejriwal needs to develop.

Some people have no doubt criticized Nitish for allying with Lalu Yadav, but in politics one has sometimes to make compromises..This is not a perfect world.
I have also a good opinion of Naveen Patnaik.

It is true that I am no one to appoint Prime Ministers and Deputy Prime Ministers. But as a citizen surely I have a right to present my view.

The 15 day circus has begun

Watching the T.V. and hearing the huge popular support for the odd even scheme reminded me of the enthusiasm and euphoria at the beginning of most wars,e.g. World War 1, the Korean War,  the Vietnam War, etc.

 But after some time the euphoria wanes as the mess accumulates and body bags start coming back, and it is back to business as usual.

 Hari Om

The Truth about Arvind Kejriwal

It is the time now for the Indian people to know the truth about that phenomenon called Arvind Kejriwal, that 'miracle man',whom I had in an earlier post called a cunning fraud.

 As I had mentioned in an earlier post, voting is done by our people in most states usually on the basis of caste and religion. For instance, Mayawati has the scheduled caste vote bank in U.P. ,Mulayam Singh and Lalu Yadav have the Yadav and some other caste vote banks in U.P. and Bihar respectively, etc.

 What is the vote bank of Kejriwal ? He has none. Even the banias ( Vaishyas ), the business community, are divided, and moreover they are only 2-3% of the population. So where will Kejriwal get his votes ?

 Realizing this, like a realistic politician, he has targeted the sizeable Muslim voters. He is determined to get the  Muslim votes, at any cost. This is the reason why he rushed to Dadri to show he is a sympathizer of Muslims, why he supported the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar ( which was perceived by Muslims as anti-BJP ), and why he went to the extent of embracing Lalu Yadav, at the oath taking of the new Bihar government.

 Muslims were earlier Congress supporters. Their strategy has been to vote for the strongest non BJP candidate, and the Congress party was perceived by them as the only party which could prevent BJP from coming to power. But after the demolition of Babri Masjid they left Congress, and joined Mulayam Singh in U.P. and Lalu Yadav in Bihar. Later they again started moving towards Congress, but Congress became totally discredited because of the numerous scams under the UPA governments., and so Muslims, like other people,  stopped supporting it. They then looked for another alternative, and found one in AAP in the Delhi Assembly election of February 2015. So they voted en masse for AAP.

However, public memory is short, and now many people have forgotten the scams under Congress rule. And now the greatest fear of AAP, which has no other vote bank, is that Muslims may again veer towards Congress. This is the reason why Kejriwal is trying desparately to woo the Muslims and hold on to the Muslim vote bank..

 Kejriwal came to power piggyback riding on Anna Hazare's movement against corruption. But after coming to power he has shown his true colours, and become totally dictatorial. It is evident that he cannot brook criticism or dissent against him within his party. He ousted Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, co founders of AAP, because they objected to giving MLA tickets to some shady people, and one suspects Kejriwal insisted in giving tickets to them as they had contributed a lot of money to the AAP funds. He allocated a whopping Rs.536 crores in the Delhi budget ( 21 times last year's figure ) for his self publicity advertisements in Delhi.

 Like Don Quixote, Kejriwal has surrounded himself with Sancho Panzas, who never criticize him.

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, except by resorting to stunts.. 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.. 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 both BJP and Congress and wanted a change, just as Indians voted for Modi in May 2014 because they were disgusted with Congress and wanted a change.

What is there in Kejriwal ? I think he is only a demagogue, who has no real solution to the peoples' problems, as people have themselves realized by now.

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 social 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..What will transfer of power to such casteist and corrupt bodies achieve ?

So Mr. Kejriwal, your days in the Indian political scene are numbered. People have seen through your fraud.

.

CAG report on DISCOMS

I had said in an earlier post that Kejriwal is no fool. He will not seriously try to suppress corruption, but only pay lip service to it. He knows that if he seriously tries to eliminate corruption, corruption will not be eliminated, but he will certainly be eliminated by the mafia and big sharks.

 In response many people have referred to the CAG report about corruption by DISCOMS, and said that Kejriwal got the accounts of the DISCOMS audited.

 Agreed. But will Kejriwal seriously launch and pursue criminal cases against the offenders, and try to get them jailed ? He will not. These DISCOMS are owned by big businessmen, and Kejriwal dare not try to touch them. Of course he will keep fulminating against the offenders, to create an impression that he is tough on corruption, but it will all be a drama. Kejriwal is no fool, and will certainly not risk his neck..

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.

Arvind Kejriwal's speech

I have seen Kejriwal's speech before the National Executive in which he has made many allegations against Yogendra Yadav. and Prashant Bhushan

The point, however, is why Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan  were not allowed to reply, and instead voting against them was done immediately after Kejriwal's speech ?

 In justice there is a requirement that both sides should be heard. Why was there such a hurry to pass the resolution without even affording an opportunity of hearing to those against whom the resolution was being passed ? Does this not create an impression that everything was pre-planned ?

 In his speech Kejriwal seeks to create an impression that he is a martyr, an innocent victim, a lamb sought to be devoured by wolves.  If that were the truth, why was there a fear of a counter version being put up by those two 'wolves' ?

 Ramzan Chaudhuri and Yogendra Yadav have both said that when immediately after Kejriwal.s speech  the resolution against PB and YY was moved they protested that at least PB and YY should be heard in their defence, but their request was rejected Was this fair ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2552&v=efn4QWGk7fA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcXJkkZBUgQ

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..