Mass appeal has its own logic

The last week unravelled two mega developments. Acquitted by the Karnataka High Court in the disproportionate assets case, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa held a show of strength on Chennai’s streets that left the citizens trapped in traffic snarls and the Opposition stunned.

In Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal locked horns with Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung over the appointment of the Acting Principal Secretary, and stirred up a hornet’s nest over issues related to the powers of a chief minister versus those of a lieutenant governor.

The verdict and after

When Justice CR Kumaraswamy took barely a minute to declare Jayalalithaa innocent, her followers in Tamil Nadu danced their way around Chennai’s streets armed with laddoos , and Twitter erupted with opinions on the “corrupt judiciary”. Unlike in the traditional media where you are obliged to argue your point of view based on some logic, a 140-character verdict demands no such obligation. Of course, she gave herself a glowing certificate: “The verdict has paved the way for me to emerge like tested pure gold; justice has prevailed, the DMK’s vendetta has failed, dharma has won.”

Once the voluminous judgment was read and digested, serious questions were raised on the mathematical calculations of income and expenditure. This can be examined when the Karnataka government files an appeal, but politics might come into play and there is speculation that Karnataka may decide not to move the Supreme Court, seeking a Congress alliance with the AIADMK in the coming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.

The BJP, on the other hand, needs Jayalalithaa too, and more desperately, as she has 11 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, and who would be a great help in passing all those held up Bills. Small wonder Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first to congratulate Jaya on her acquittal.

This is an enviable position to be in for someone who had to step down as chief minister eight months ago, serve a brief period in a Bengaluru jail till she got bail and was confined to her Poes Garden home for eight months, during which time the entire Tamil Nadu government in a limbo. But most of all, her power comes from the show of strength on display on Chennai’s roads when she drove to the Raj Bhavan, her car showered with petals. So many people killing themselves when she was pronounced guilty by the trial court, ministers grovelling, thousands of tonsured heads and lakhs offering prayers for her acquittal… the twiterrati may be shocked by the first and titter away at the rest till the cows come home. But a combination of all of this is what accounts for the … call it mystique, appeal, popularity… of Jayalalithaa. And guess who has the last laugh, at least for now!

Posts by a couple of hassled Chennaites on Facebook expressing dismay over the traffic going haywire were greeted with a sober response, and from a Menon, unlikely to be a committed AIADMK cadre: “Look at the amazing meals the poor can get for a pittance at Amma canteens.” Well, more of these canteens have been opened immediately on her return as chief minister.

From all available indications, including the disarray in the DMK, it appears that in the next Assembly election the AIADMK is likely to halt the pendulum swing and return to power. After all, more than halfway through her regime, the AIADMK swept the 2014 Lok Sabha polls with 37 seats, and emerged the third largest party after the BJP and the Congress, with no evidence of anti-incumbency.

So here we have the interesting juxtaposition of charges of corruption and the Tamil Nadu electorate unwilling to buy them.

Coming to Kejriwal: he has been hounded on the social media as a perpetual agitator, upstart, maverick. The Centre has backed Jung on bureaucratic appointments and Kejriwal has responded by taunting the BJP not to run the Delhi government with its three MLAs — the remaining 67 are AAP MLAs elected through a landslide verdict — and has compared the BJP to the Queen of England and Jung to the Viceroy!

But on Monday when he called a Janta ki Cabinet Janta ke Beech (people’s cabinet), the message was loud and clear: the people’s mandate was with him and as an elected chief minister he should have control over bureaucratic appointments, and Delhi should get full Statehood. All eyes will be on how the CM-LG war in Delhi pans out. But if Kejriwal is indeed arrogant, his arrogance surely comes from the huge mandate that is with him, and is helped substantially by the huge question marks on the constitutional validity of Jung’s behaviour and the Centre’s backing of it

Both Jayalalithaa and Kejriwal have terrific support from their voters, but there is an essential difference. Kejriwal talks too much; Jaya practices an imperious silence. Like Prime Minister Modi, she doesn’t need the media. Actually, unlike Modi, she doesn’t even need the social media!

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