Anti-graft champion
Arvind Kejriwal becomes the face of an increasingly angry movement against ‘brazenly dishonest’ vested interests in Indian politics and business.
His voice is passionate. His eyes sparkle with determination to tackle corruption and help change the way India is governed.
They had gathered to vent their anger about the government’s continuing failure to do nothing about the controversial sale of 142 coal blocks between 2005 and 2009 without open bidding to private companies.
Corruption has become a way of life in the world’s largest democracy – mainly due to the nexus among top industrialists, bureaucrats and politicians – especially when it comes to auctioning natural resources such as telecom spectrum airwaves or coal mines or land for industry.
“Our system encourages corruption. Vested interests have become so powerful and brazenly dishonest, they are challenging the rest of the society,” Mr Kejriwal says bitterly while sitting in his modest Ghaziabad home bordering New Delhi.
The independent and constitutional auditors’ report on the sale of coal blocks is the latest in a series of financial scandals to hit the Congress-led government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The revelations have angered opposition politicians and citizens alike.
India is one of the largest producers of coal in the world. It is also home to 319 million of the so-called poorest of the poor in the world – or those living below the dollar-a-day poverty line. The auditor’s report says India lost $33 billion by selling coal fields for far less than their market value.
Although the report has exonerated Mr Singh personally, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party is demanding his resignation since he was leading the coal ministry at the time of the sales.
Mr Kejriwal, a 2006 winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership, has taken the battle to streets. In the past, he was instrumental in campaigning to have the Central Right to Information Act passed.
A mechanical engineer trained at prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, he worked briefly in industry and then joined the Indian Revenue Service in 1995 but resigned after five years.
While he was additional commissioner of income tax in New Delhi, Mr Kejriwal quietly started ‘Parivartan’ (which means change), an organisation run by a few young volunteers who have helped thousands of citizens get everyday benefits – like getting a food supplies card or an electricity connection – without paying bribes to government officials.
Parivartan has also been spearheading research into governance issues. In 2010, he along with few like-minded people formed India Against Corruption which is aimed at enacting of the Jan Lokpal Bill – a strong and effective anti-corruption law.
“Most students passing out of Indian Institutes of Technology go abroad. I joined the Tatas,” Mr Kejriwal recalls, referring to the Indian industrial conglomerate. “But just being an engineer wasn’t seen as sufficient, so the choice was between management studies, civil service and going abroad. I took the civil services.
“Although I had no experience, there was an urge to do something for society. I felt the civil service would give me an opportunity.”
When waiting for the civil service interview call, he did some travelling for almost six months. “I went to see Mother Teresa in Kolkata. I stood in the queue and when my turn came, I said ‘Mother, I want to work with you.’ She held my hands and said ‘Go and work at Kalighat.’
“We used to go all across Kolkata. I saw a lot of poverty, sick people on footpaths, some even with gangrene. We used to bring such people to the Kalighat ashram (shelter for homeless) and nurse them. If they were dying, Mother Teresa’s message was to let them die with dignity. So there should be some volunteers with them.”
It was in early March last year, a month before activist Anna Hazare’s momentous fast, when the model Jan Lokpal Bill – aimed essentially at empowering citizens and fighting corruption – became top news.
Having earlier spearheading the Right to Information Act 2005 campaign, Mr Kejriwal said it became pretty clear to him that corruption could be exposed using it. But to prosecute and punish corrupt people, an effective anti-corruption law was needed.
To achieve this aim, Mr Kejriwal along with other activists Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan, Santosh Hegde and Kiran Bedi drafted the Jan Lokpal Bill. The government refuses to take it seriously, saying that making law is the prerogative of the Parliament and if a bunch of activists want to have a say, they should first contest elections.
Though Anna Hazare was the leader of the movement for Jan Lokpal, Mr Kejriwal is regarded as its architect.
Now India Against Corruption has come to the conclusion that 15 tainted ministers in the federal cabinet are behind the delay in process of passing of a strong Jan Lokpal Bill. The group has demanded the establishment of a special investigation team to investigate corruption charges, and fast-track courts to prosecute members of Parliament against whom serious criminal charges are pending.
Mr Kejriwal lives with his wife Sunita of the Indian Revenue Service (she is a former colleague) and their two children with whom the busy activist sometimes wishes he could spend more time. But his battle against corruption continues – on the streets rather than in decorative forums like Parliament – quite possibly mirroring the anger among most people across the country, which could erupt and change the way India is governed after the 2014 general elections.
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