Ever since Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party assumed power in Delhi, the city is being stifled by a battle of vindictiveness and arrogance. The BJP, which leads the central government, seems to have taken its defeat in the assembly election a little too personally. So, on a daily basis, there is a headline on a new battle between the Central and Delhi governments over authority and control.
The latest was the arrest of Delhi Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar for allegedly forging and providing fake degrees. The charges against Tomar are serious. Serious enough for Arvind Kejriwal to not just ask him to resign as minister but also take disciplinary action against him. However, the manner in which Tomar was arrested, with even the Delhi Commissioner of Police caught unawares, smells of vindictiveness.
In the second week of May, the Bar Council of Delhi had filed a complaint against Tomar, asking the Delhi Police to look into the authenticity of the certificates submitted by him. The council had given Tomar a "last opportunity" to submit original graduation certificates and law degree by May 27. Tomar's advocate had sought time till July to file the certificates, but the council declined his request.
On May 27, Arvind Kejriwal made scathing allegations against the Centre, stating that Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung had been conferred with special powers by the Central government to allow for a dictatorship in Delhi. Days later, in an unprecedented move, Tomar was arrested by the Delhi Police with most in the Ministry of Home Affairs and establishment caught unawares.
None of us can be in a position to condemn any legal action against Tomar should the case against him be proved, but unfortunately for the BJP, there are too many episodes of power tussle between the L-G, supported by the BJP, and Arvind Kejriwal, to suggest that the arrest was made in the spirit of justice. And this arrogance is slowly and steadily making the BJP take disastrous decisions which could well see it being routed in the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar and West Bengal.
The BJP's political miscalculations began with BJP president Amit Shah appointing former top cop Kiran Bedi as the party's chief ministerial candidate in Delhi. The most important criterion for her selection was her rivalry with Kejriwal and several deserving candidates from the BJP were ignored, including Harsh Vardhan, who had, in the previous Delhi election, improved the tally of the party substantially.
Here again, Shah, whose politics of manipulation and vindictiveness in Gujarat is legendary, chose shrewd games over capability.
He has attempted games with Mamata Banerjee and her ministers in West Bengal too.
In December last year, the Trinamool Congress had alleged that the BJP and Amit Shah were being vindictive against her ministers. The party alleged that Shah - who had promised to drown Mamata Banerjee and her party in the Gangasagar in the assembly election - was the mastermind behind the arrest of her ministers in the Saradha scam. The Trinamool also alleged that Shah was behind the allegations of Mamata Banerjee's involvement in the scam.
However, just a month ago, Prime Minister Narenda Modi shared the stage with Mamata, heaping praise on her and her government, suggesting a turnaround in attitude.
Playing games could well backfire for the BJP in the forthcoming Bihar elections. It is a known fact that former Bihar Chief Minister Jitin Ram Manjhi's rebellion against his then party, the Janata Dal (United) and the subsequent floor test he had to face was a result of the political manoeuvering orchestrated by Amit Shah and Ram Vilas Paswan. According to insiders, Shah and Modi have made Bihar a prestige battle, given Nitish Kumar's open criticism of Modi before the Lok Sabha election last year.
Amit Shah, who has been huddled in Patna with senior party functionaries, must have realised by now that it was the politics of antagonism which led to a consensus between sworn enemies Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad in Bihar.
That Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi was able to placate the two warring leaders was a result of an anti-Modi card thrown at the two, suggesting that should they not unite, the BJP could use its power at the Centre to rake up old cases against them.
Manoeuvering is not new to politics. It's an art used by every political party to assume power. But Amit Shah, for whom Bihar will be a test to retain his post as BJP president, must realise that he has moved on from Gujarat. That he is now the president of a national party. And that, a position like his demands more gravitas than vengeful political arrests like Jitender Tomar's and the constant shadow-boxing through the L-G with Kejriwal suggest.
While the case against Tomar is grave and demands arrest and investigation, the manner of his arrest has given AAP another chance at claiming martyrdom at the hands of political parties, mostly the BJP, which has been very amateurish in accepting its defeat in the state.
Amit Shah needs to realise that Bihar will require political deftness and not grudge-bearing, revengeful games with his opponents, who have burnt their fingers in the past with similar games and are in a much more superior position to get an upper hand in the state.
Perhaps, it is time for Amit
bhai to unlearn a few tricks.
(Rana Ayyub is an award-winning investigative journalist and political writer. She is working on a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which will be published later this year.)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.