Swaraj by Arvind Kejriwal

Since arriving in India in the fall of 2012, the continuing complaint we hear from locals, as well as in the press, is about corruption. From public opinion leaders to ordinary persons, many Indians believe that corruption cripples this great country. While many traits and trends hinder India, there is no doubt that corruption presents a major ongoing problem. 

Just before we arrived, a groundswell of anti-corruption demonstrations erupted nation-wide. Anna Hazare, the prophet of the movement, set the tone. As with many movements in democratic society, the success of the movement depends on a successful translation to electoral politics. Arvind Kejriwal, a former government worker, has provided the practical political guidance for organizing Hazare’s moral outrage. Kejriwal led the way by starting a new political party, the Aam Aadmi Party (Common Man [sic] Party). In elections held in Delhi toward the end of last year, the Aam Aadmi Party led by Kejriwal scored impressively, and Kejriwal was asked to form a government. The government (coalition-based) didn’t last long. Like many new, outsider parties, they found governing much more challenging than campaigning. 

Before taking up governance, Kejriwal wrote Swaraj. Swaraj is the term that Gandhi coined for “self-rule”, and it served as a theme for the independence movement. Kejriwal uses swaraj as a rallying cry for the anti-corruption movement. Kejriwal argues that the nation needs to make major changes at the level of the panchayats (village or district councils). He argues that the panchayats foster corruption but have little power. Thus, a structure for decentralized decision-making becomes a vehicle of corruption.

Kejriwal’s book describes incidents of corruption and how the system fails to deal with such incidents. He points to examples of success in stemming corruption. He also details steps needed to make the system more responsive and less corrupt. I don’t have the knowledge to know whether his diagnosis centered on the panchayats is accurate—although the diagnosis of corruption seems unassailable—and whether his prescription will work if applied. The crucial remaining issue is whether the patient will take the medicine. Corruption exists because some, albeit a very few, benefit from it. The major parties, Congress (now ruling and most rife with corruption) and BJP (the party likely to form a new government this spring), both have long histories of problems and seem little interested in rooting out corruption. The upcoming elections have forced some acknowledgement of the problem by these two parties, but I get the sense that too many powerful leaders are happy to maintain the status quo. 

Kejriwal’s book raises an important question: whether a democracy such as India can address corruption as effectively as authoritarian China. The current leadership in Beijing has made a show of its intention to quell corruption (at least below the highest levels). We don’t know how successful they will be, but with a judicial system that’s less than meticulous about due process, Chinese efforts could prove effective. India, on the other hand, because of the dispersion of political power and the need for coalition building, may have a much more difficult time rooting out corruption even if the central government commits to doing so. Democratic government can root out corruption for the most part (the exception of Illinois and Chicago noted!), but it takes an effort. In the U.S., the Progressive movement, arising out of a growing middle-class, attacked and eventually took down political machines like Tammany Hall, but the question remains whether India’s middle class has grown enough to overcome the inertia of caste and class voting that remains the norm here for many voters. 

I hope that Kejriwal is correct in his diagnosis and that a cure—or at least limiting of the worst symptoms—succeeds.