Ambitious or arrogant? Is Kumar Vishwas, AAP’s answer to Rahul, Modi?

He's the man who will take on Modi's shehzaada, Azam Khan's yuvraaj and the Congress's baton-holder-in-waiting in the latter's home constituency and Congress bastion of Amethi. Call him audacious or overplaying his hand, but he has also invited the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to contest from Amethi, promising to trounce Rahul and Modi together.

He's also wriggling out of a controversy after an old video surfaced showing him making a comment about a Muharram procession. For somebody still at the start of his political career, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas has found his way into the headlines rather comfortably.

AAP leader Kumar Vishwas. Image courtesy ibnlive

Known as a poet who would routinely break into song on stage during Anna Hazare's fasts and other events organised by India Against Corruption, Vishwas is now leading efforts to embarrass the Congress party in its vice-president's constituency, nurtured for years by Rajiv Gandhi and for one term by Sonia Gandhi.

According to a report in The Indian Express, Vishwas blames the current state of Indian politics on "good people" staying out of the field too long. "But now politics has become a mainstream agenda, and things have started to change," he is quoted as saying.

The report also says Vishwas has 1.6 million likes on his Facebook page and 1,38,000 followers on Twitter.

Having dropped out of engineering college after listening to his "soul", he studied literature and poetry.

He topped again in his postgraduate course, this time in Hindi literature, setting a "still standing record of 76 per cent" for CCS University, Meerut (he studied in MMH College, Ghaziabad)."

Having taught in Rajasthan until 2000, he then joined Lala Lajpat Rai College in Ghaziabad from where he is now on leave without pay.

In the course of his performances, writing and activism, the report says, he got acquainted with Arvind Kejriwal in 2006, and began to participate in the latter's protests. Having once fancied himself as a writer for Hindi films, Vishwas's poetry too has now changed from romantic subjects to patriotic ones that are set to music and sung at AAP events.

As AAP readies for the big scaling-up for Parliamentary elections, Vishwas is expected to travel across the country as one of the party's big campaigners, apart from campaigning in his own constituency (Amethi, unless Rahul contests from elsewhere, he says).

Vishwas, a close confidante of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, was also present on the dais when the Delhi Jal Board chief made the announcement about free water, raising many eyebrows.

Vishwas appears always ready for some verbal jousting, getting into a war of words with the Congress by calling the latter party's leaders cheats. "I just called them cheaters which is a well known fact. They have been betraying the public for long. My reaction is nothing as compared to them. Every year Manmohan Singh makes a billion promises but never fulfills them. Now if they feel so upset about a comment on a fact, my consolations are with them," he was quoted as saying.

Very active on Twitter, Vishwas responded to the indecision over a house for Kejriwal by tweeting a picture of his own bungalow. "Will they call me a khaas aadmi," he tweeted.

I hv a 7 Room house brought by my mny n bank loan in 2001.So when"Ambani foot lickers" r declaring me "Khaas-Aadmi"? pic.twitter.com/9RI6Fv6T23

— Dr. Kumar Vishvas (@DrKumarVishwas) January 4, 2014

 

Clearly, Vishwas has emerged as one of the key strategists of AAP, having been instrumental in mobilising the support of youth before the Delhi elections.

His own website calls him a new age poet and motivator. "His 'Koi Deewana Kehta Hai' and 'Hotho Par Ganga Ho, Hatho me Tiranga Ho' Solo concerts have practically changed the definition of Poetic performance... As a celebrated Hindi poet, he is well known across the world. He is credited with reviving Hindi poetry among young generation," his website says.

No doubt, he'll be hoping to add chapters of his political career very soon.

Volunteers or vigilantes? The perils of AAP’s anarchic politics

"This is like a return to the Emergency days."

That startling comment came from my mother early this morning as she was reading the newspapers. She was referring to this report in the Indian Express Newsline which said that the Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain has dismissed the existing hospital management societies, the Rogi Kalyan Samitis, and that Aam Aadmi Party volunteers, with their trademark caps, were conducting inspections and helping out with administration in government hospitals, apparently without formal orders.

The RKSs were headed by the local MLA and comprised representatives of hospital administrations, doctors, civil society members and patients. They were part of the National Rural Health Mission eco-system and were the interface between hospitals and the public. Jain said the samitis were defunct and that he had received a lot of complaints of corruption and malfunctioning.

Are we plummeting to vigilantism? AFP image

Two days earlier, Delhi's education minister Manish Sisodia had announced that volunteers would be recruited to monitor government schools. They will visit government schools and monitor toilets, water supply, cleanliness and presence of teachers and report their findings to the education minister every day.

So what does all this have to do with the Emergency? Apparently during those dark days, similar volunteers from the Youth Congress would go around `checking' various things – from the working of government babus to the number of guests and the quantity and kinds of food being served at weddings (those were the days of guest control order). Needless to say, bullying and muscle flexing was common and the 'volunteers' would often have to be 'pacified' in various ways.

Going by the Indian Express report, the muscle flexing may have already started. Hospital administrators and doctors are complaining about AAP volunteers barging into labour rooms and calling doctors out of surgeries to complain, as well as threatening the filing of Right to Information (RTI) applications.

One needs to allow for a measure of hyperbole in these reports. Let's face it, public hospitals are not the best run places and any attempt at reform will affect those who are benefiting from the current mess. The Indian Express journalist does not appear to have personally witnessed any bullying but is going by the accounts of doctors and managers. It would be natural for them to exaggerate things in the hope of derailing what could be a welcome initiative by discrediting it.

It's also a bit unfair to liken the AAP volunteers to members of the Youth Congress which, at least in Delhi, was viewed with a fair bit of alarm. In contrast, AAP has come to power on the wings of a lot of goodwill from the public and its activists are fired by a sense of idealism about changing the way politics is conducted – the kind of politics the Youth Congress represented.

And yet, there is a need to set off the alarm bells.

The current system of governance in Delhi needs to be overhauled completely but little is to be achieved by dismantling existing structures in a hurry.

Jain, according to the Indian Express report, plans to replace the RKSs with new Jan Swasthya Samitis, which will be devoid of political interference. But shouldn't that have been done before the RKSs were wound up? Why create an anarchic situation with volunteers having a free run of hospitals? Anarchy is romantic and even acceptable as long as an organization is in an activist mode. Once it comes into a position of responsibility, it has to function according to a set of rules and procedures. If these procedures are blocking reforms, then change them by all means but creating a vacuum is not the answer.

Delhi needs an active and vigilant citizenry; but this should not become an aggressive vigilante mode, which is susceptible to misuse. The initial lot of AAP volunteers may be an idealistic bunch who will not misuse their powers, but can AAP stand guarantee for each and every volunteer, especially those flocking to it in droves after it formed the government?

Even if there is no misuse, reckless vigilantism is also dangerous. People who believe they are morally superior – as many AAP volunteers do – invariably adopt a 'my way or the highway' route. This was precisely the attitude of Anna Hazare, from whose Jan Lokpal movement AAP was born. There is a certain impatience with and disdain for any criticism or urging of caution.

So it wouldn't be surprising for overzealous volunteers to refuse to accept perfectly valid reasons for some official not being able to do things the way they want it to be done. Not all of them will be able to distinguish between genuine problems in doing things their way and clear attempts to block reform. The Delhi law minister forcing the law secretary to call a meeting with judges (something only the High Court can do) and accusing him of siding with the old regime is a case in point.

When this is the case with the law minister, can ordinary volunteers be capable of more discretion?

A Firstpost article had wondered if the AAP revolution was similar to the French or the American revolution. But remember what happened during the French revolution, when vigilantism gave way to mob rule?

Governance in Delhi needs to be shaken up, no doubt. Only AAP has this as an agenda. But in implementing this agenda, the party needs to take care that its cadres don't become like the vigilantes of the French revolution. Or like the Youth Congress during the Emergency.

Seetha is a senior journalist and author

AP assembly in deadlock for fifth day over Telangana formation

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly was caught in a deadlock for the fifth consecutive day today over the issue of state bifurcation.

Barely three minutes after the day's proceedings began at 9 AM, Speaker Nadendla Manohar was forced to adjourn the House for an hour as legislators from Seemandhra region as well as Telangana trooped into the well raising slogans for a
united and separate state respectively.

Telangana protests. AFP image

The Speaker repeatedly appealed to the members to return to their seats and let the debate on the draft Andra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill-2013 be taken up.

"I have time and again been telling you to make use of the opportunity and take part in the debate. You can express
your opinions and anguish in the debate," Manohar told the agitating MLAs and asked them to resume their seats.

"I have assured you that adequate time will be given to everyone to participate in the debate. If we waste House's time like this, it will serve no purpose. Make use of the given opportunity," the Speaker added.

Telling the legislators that they "must go back" to their seats, Manohar reminded them that they had even given up the Question Hour to enable debate on the draft Bill. Amidst the slogan-shouting, the Speaker rejected the adjournment motions moved by TDP and YSRC on the state bifurcation issue and by CPI on the Palem bus mishap in which 44 persons were charred to death.

As the agitating members showed no mood to let the House run, the Speaker adjourned it for an hour.

PTI

Volunteers or vigilantes? The dangers of AAP’s anarchic politics

"This is like a return to the Emergency days."

That startling comment came from my mother early this morning as she was reading the newspapers. She was referring to this report in the Indian Express Newsline which said that the Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain has dismissed the existing hospital management societies, the Rogi Kalyan Samitis, and that Aam Aadmi Party volunteers, with their trademark caps, were conducting inspections and helping out with administration in government hospitals, apparently without formal orders.

The RKSs were headed by the local MLA and comprised representatives of hospital administrations, doctors, civil society members and patients. They were part of the National Rural Health Mission eco-system and were the interface between hospitals and the public. Jain said the samitis were defunct and that he had received a lot of complaints of corruption and malfunctioning.

Are we plummeting to vigilantism? AFP image

Two days earlier, Delhi's education minister Manish Sisodia had announced that volunteers would be recruited to monitor government schools. They will visit government schools and monitor toilets, water supply, cleanliness and presence of teachers and report their findings to the education minister every day.

So what does all this have to do with the Emergency? Apparently during those dark days, similar volunteers from the Youth Congress would go around `checking' various things – from the working of government babus to the number of guests and the quantity and kinds of food being served at weddings (those were the days of guest control order). Needless to say, bullying and muscle flexing was common and the 'volunteers' would often have to be 'pacified' in various ways.

Going by the Indian Express report, the muscle flexing may have already started. Hospital administrators and doctors are complaining about AAP volunteers barging into labour rooms and calling doctors out of surgeries to complain, as well as threatening the filing of Right to Information (RTI) applications.

One needs to allow for a measure of hyperbole in these reports. Let's face it, public hospitals are not the best run places and any attempt at reform will affect those who are benefiting from the current mess. The Indian Express journalist does not appear to have personally witnessed any bullying but is going by the accounts of doctors and managers. It would be natural for them to exaggerate things in the hope of derailing what could be a welcome initiative by discrediting it.

It's also a bit unfair to liken the AAP volunteers to members of the Youth Congress which, at least in Delhi, was viewed with a fair bit of alarm. In contrast, AAP has come to power on the wings of a lot of goodwill from the public and its activists are fired by a sense of idealism about changing the way politics is conducted – the kind of politics the Youth Congress represented.

And yet, there is a need to set off the alarm bells.

The current system of governance in Delhi needs to be overhauled completely but little is to be achieved by dismantling existing structures in a hurry.

Jain, according to the Indian Express report, plans to replace the RKSs with new Jan Swasthya Samitis, which will be devoid of political interference. But shouldn't that have been done before the RKSs were wound up? Why create an anarchic situation with volunteers having a free run of hospitals? Anarchy is romantic and even acceptable as long as an organization is in an activist mode. Once it comes into a position of responsibility, it has to function according to a set of rules and procedures. If these procedures are blocking reforms, then change them by all means but creating a vacuum is not the answer.

Delhi needs an active and vigilant citizenry; but this should not become an aggressive vigilante mode, which is susceptible to misuse. The initial lot of AAP volunteers may be an idealistic bunch who will not misuse their powers, but can AAP stand guarantee for each and every volunteer, especially those flocking to it in droves after it formed the government?

Even if there is no misuse, reckless vigilantism is also dangerous. People who believe they are morally superior – as many AAP volunteers do – invariably adopt a 'my way or the highway' route. This was precisely the attitude of Anna Hazare, from whose Jan Lokpal movement AAP was born. There is a certain impatience with and disdain for any criticism or urging of caution.

So it wouldn't be surprising for overzealous volunteers to refuse to accept perfectly valid reasons for some official not being able to do things the way they want it to be done. Not all of them will be able to distinguish between genuine problems in doing things their way and clear attempts to block reform. The Delhi law minister forcing the law secretary to call a meeting with judges (something only the High Court can do) and accusing him of siding with the old regime is a case in point.

When this is the case with the law minister, can ordinary volunteers be capable of more discretion?

A Firstpost article had wondered if the AAP revolution was similar to the French or the American revolution. But remember what happened during the French revolution, when vigilantism gave way to mob rule?

Governance in Delhi needs to be shaken up, no doubt. Only AAP has this as an agenda. But in implementing this agenda, the party needs to take care that its cadres don't become like the vigilantes of the French revolution. Or like the Youth Congress during the Emergency.

Seetha is a senior journalist and author

Ambitious or overconfident? Kumar Vishwas, AAP’s answer to Rahul, Modi

He's the man who will take on Modi's shehzaada, Azam Khan's yuvraaj and the Congress's baton-holder-in-waiting in the latter's home constituency and Congress bastion of Amethi. Call him audacious or overplaying his hand, but he has also invited the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to contest from Amethi, promising to trounce Rahul and Modi together.

He's also wriggling out of a controversy after an old video surfaced showing him making a comment about a Muharram procession. For somebody still at the start of his political career, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas has found his way into the headlines rather comfortably.

AAP leader Kumar Vishwas. Image courtesy ibnlive

Known as a poet who would routinely break into song on stage during Anna Hazare's fasts and other events organised by India Against Corruption, Vishwas is now leading efforts to embarrass the Congress party in its vice-president's constituency, nurtured for years by Rajiv Gandhi and for one term by Sonia Gandhi.

According to a report in The Indian Express, Vishwas blames the current state of Indian politics on "good people" staying out of the field too long. "But now politics has become a mainstream agenda, and things have started to change," he is quoted as saying.

The report also says Vishwas has 1.6 million likes on his Facebook page and 1,38,000 followers on Twitter.

Having dropped out of engineering college after listening to his "soul", he studied literature and poetry.

He topped again in his postgraduate course, this time in Hindi literature, setting a "still standing record of 76 per cent" for CCS University, Meerut (he studied in MMH College, Ghaziabad)."

Having taught in Rajasthan until 2000, he then joined Lala Lajpat Rai College in Ghaziabad from where he is now on leave without pay.

In the course of his performances, writing and activism, the report says, he got acquainted with Arvind Kejriwal in 2006, and began to participate in the latter's protests. Having once fancied himself as a writer for Hindi films, Vishwas's poetry too has now changed from romantic subjects to patriotic ones that are set to music and sung at AAP events.

As AAP readies for the big scaling-up for Parliamentary elections, Vishwas is expected to travel across the country as one of the party's big campaigners, apart from campaigning in his own constituency (Amethi, unless Rahul contests from elsewhere, he says).

Vishwas, a close confidante of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, was also present on the dais when the Delhi Jal Board chief made the announcement about free water, raising many eyebrows.

Vishwas appears always ready for some verbal jousting, getting into a war of words with the Congress by calling the latter party's leaders cheats. "I just called them cheaters which is a well known fact. They have been betraying the public for long. My reaction is nothing as compared to them. Every year Manmohan Singh makes a billion promises but never fulfills them. Now if they feel so upset about a comment on a fact, my consolations are with them," he was quoted as saying.

Very active on Twitter, Vishwas responded to the indecision over a house for Kejriwal by tweeting a picture of his own bungalow. "Will they call me a khaas aadmi," he tweeted.

I hv a 7 Room house brought by my mny n bank loan in 2001.So when"Ambani foot lickers" r declaring me "Khaas-Aadmi"? pic.twitter.com/9RI6Fv6T23

— Dr. Kumar Vishvas (@DrKumarVishwas) January 4, 2014

 

Clearly, Vishwas has emerged as one of the key strategists of AAP, having been instrumental in mobilising the support of youth before the Delhi elections.

His own website calls him a new age poet and motivator. "His 'Koi Deewana Kehta Hai' and 'Hotho Par Ganga Ho, Hatho me Tiranga Ho' Solo concerts have practically changed the definition of Poetic performance... As a celebrated Hindi poet, he is well known across the world. He is credited with reviving Hindi poetry among young generation," his website says.

No doubt, he'll be hoping to add chapters of his political career very soon.

Volunteers or vigilantes? The danger of AAP’s anarchic politics

"This is like a return to the Emergency days."

That startling comment came from my mother early this morning as she was reading the newspapers. She was referring to this report in the Indian Express Newsline which said that the Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain has dismissed the existing hospital management societies, the Rogi Kalyan Samitis, and that Aam Aadmi Party volunteers, with their trademark caps, were conducting inspections and helping out with administration in government hospitals, apparently without formal orders.

The RKSs were headed by the local MLA and comprised representatives of hospital administrations, doctors, civil society members and patients. They were part of the National Rural Health Mission eco-system and were the interface between hospitals and the public. Jain said the samitis were defunct and that he had received a lot of complaints of corruption and malfunctioning.

Are we plummeting to vigilantism? AFP image

Two days earlier, Delhi's education minister Manish Sisodia had announced that volunteers would be recruited to monitor government schools. They will visit government schools and monitor toilets, water supply, cleanliness and presence of teachers and report their findings to the education minister every day.

So what does all this have to do with the Emergency? Apparently during those dark days, similar volunteers from the Youth Congress would go around `checking' various things – from the working of government babus to the number of guests and the quantity and kinds of food being served at weddings (those were the days of guest control order). Needless to say, bullying and muscle flexing was common and the 'volunteers' would often have to be 'pacified' in various ways.

Going by the Indian Express report, the muscle flexing may have already started. Hospital administrators and doctors are complaining about AAP volunteers barging into labour rooms and calling doctors out of surgeries to complain, as well as threatening the filing of Right to Information (RTI) applications.

One needs to allow for a measure of hyperbole in these reports. Let's face it, public hospitals are not the best run places and any attempt at reform will affect those who are benefiting from the current mess. The Indian Express journalist does not appear to have personally witnessed any bullying but is going by the accounts of doctors and managers. It would be natural for them to exaggerate things in the hope of derailing what could be a welcome initiative by discrediting it.

It's also a bit unfair to liken the AAP volunteers to members of the Youth Congress which, at least in Delhi, was viewed with a fair bit of alarm. In contrast, AAP has come to power on the wings of a lot of goodwill from the public and its activists are fired by a sense of idealism about changing the way politics is conducted – the kind of politics the Youth Congress represented.

And yet, there is a need to set off the alarm bells.

The current system of governance in Delhi needs to be overhauled completely but little is to be achieved by dismantling existing structures in a hurry.

Jain, according to the Indian Express report, plans to replace the RKSs with new Jan Swasthya Samitis, which will be devoid of political interference. But shouldn't that have been done before the RKSs were wound up? Why create an anarchic situation with volunteers having a free run of hospitals? Anarchy is romantic and even acceptable as long as an organization is in an activist mode. Once it comes into a position of responsibility, it has to function according to a set of rules and procedures. If these procedures are blocking reforms, then change them by all means but creating a vacuum is not the answer.

Delhi needs an active and vigilant citizenry; but this should not become an aggressive vigilante mode, which is susceptible to misuse. The initial lot of AAP volunteers may be an idealistic bunch who will not misuse their powers, but can AAP stand guarantee for each and every volunteer, especially those flocking to it in droves after it formed the government?

Even if there is no misuse, reckless vigilantism is also dangerous. People who believe they are morally superior – as many AAP volunteers do – invariably adopt a 'my way or the highway' route. This was precisely the attitude of Anna Hazare, from whose Jan Lokpal movement AAP was born. There is a certain impatience with and disdain for any criticism or urging of caution.

So it wouldn't be surprising for overzealous volunteers to refuse to accept perfectly valid reasons for some official not being able to do things the way they want it to be done. Not all of them will be able to distinguish between genuine problems in doing things their way and clear attempts to block reform. The Delhi law minister forcing the law secretary to call a meeting with judges (something only the High Court can do) and accusing him of siding with the old regime is a case in point.

When this is the case with the law minister, can ordinary volunteers be capable of more discretion?

A Firstpost article had wondered if the AAP revolution was similar to the French or the American revolution. But remember what happened during the French revolution, when vigilantism gave way to mob rule?

Governance in Delhi needs to be shaken up, no doubt. Only AAP has this as an agenda. But in implementing this agenda, the party needs to take care that its cadres don't become like the vigilantes of the French revolution. Or like the Youth Congress during the Emergency.

Seetha is a senior journalist and author

Volunteers or vigilantes? The danger of AAP’s anarchic policies

"This is like a return to the Emergency days."

That startling comment came from my mother early this morning as she was reading the newspapers. She was referring to this report in the Indian Express Newsline which said that the Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain has dismissed the existing hospital management societies, the Rogi Kalyan Samitis, and that Aam Aadmi Party volunteers, with their trademark caps, were conducting inspections and helping out with administration in government hospitals, apparently without formal orders.

The RKSs were headed by the local MLA and comprised representatives of hospital administrations, doctors, civil society members and patients. They were part of the National Rural Health Mission eco-system and were the interface between hospitals and the public. Jain said the samitis were defunct and that he had received a lot of complaints of corruption and malfunctioning.

Are we plummeting to vigilantism? AFP image

Two days earlier, Delhi's education minister Manish Sisodia had announced that volunteers would be recruited to monitor government schools. They will visit government schools and monitor toilets, water supply, cleanliness and presence of teachers and report their findings to the education minister every day.

So what does all this have to do with the Emergency? Apparently during those dark days, similar volunteers from the Youth Congress would go around `checking' various things – from the working of government babus to the number of guests and the quantity and kinds of food being served at weddings (those were the days of guest control order). Needless to say, bullying and muscle flexing was common and the 'volunteers' would often have to be 'pacified' in various ways.

Going by the Indian Express report, the muscle flexing may have already started. Hospital administrators and doctors are complaining about AAP volunteers barging into labour rooms and calling doctors out of surgeries to complain, as well as threatening the filing of Right to Information (RTI) applications.

One needs to allow for a measure of hyperbole in these reports. Let's face it, public hospitals are not the best run places and any attempt at reform will affect those who are benefiting from the current mess. The Indian Express journalist does not appear to have personally witnessed any bullying but is going by the accounts of doctors and managers. It would be natural for them to exaggerate things in the hope of derailing what could be a welcome initiative by discrediting it.

It's also a bit unfair to liken the AAP volunteers to members of the Youth Congress which, at least in Delhi, was viewed with a fair bit of alarm. In contrast, AAP has come to power on the wings of a lot of goodwill from the public and its activists are fired by a sense of idealism about changing the way politics is conducted – the kind of politics the Youth Congress represented.

And yet, there is a need to set off the alarm bells.

The current system of governance in Delhi needs to be overhauled completely but little is to be achieved by dismantling existing structures in a hurry.

Jain, according to the Indian Express report, plans to replace the RKSs with new Jan Swasthya Samitis, which will be devoid of political interference. But shouldn't that have been done before the RKSs were wound up? Why create an anarchic situation with volunteers having a free run of hospitals? Anarchy is romantic and even acceptable as long as an organization is in an activist mode. Once it comes into a position of responsibility, it has to function according to a set of rules and procedures. If these procedures are blocking reforms, then change them by all means but creating a vacuum is not the answer.

Delhi needs an active and vigilant citizenry; but this should not become an aggressive vigilante mode, which is susceptible to misuse. The initial lot of AAP volunteers may be an idealistic bunch who will not misuse their powers, but can AAP stand guarantee for each and every volunteer, especially those flocking to it in droves after it formed the government?

Even if there is no misuse, reckless vigilantism is also dangerous. People who believe they are morally superior – as many AAP volunteers do – invariably adopt a 'my way or the highway' route. This was precisely the attitude of Anna Hazare, from whose Jan Lokpal movement AAP was born. There is a certain impatience with and disdain for any criticism or urging of caution.

So it wouldn't be surprising for overzealous volunteers to refuse to accept perfectly valid reasons for some official not being able to do things the way they want it to be done. Not all of them will be able to distinguish between genuine problems in doing things their way and clear attempts to block reform. The Delhi law minister forcing the law secretary to call a meeting with judges (something only the High Court can do) and accusing him of siding with the old regime is a case in point.

When this is the case with the law minister, can ordinary volunteers be capable of more discretion?

A Firstpost article had wondered if the AAP revolution was similar to the French or the American revolution. But remember what happened during the French revolution, when vigilantism gave way to mob rule?

Governance in Delhi needs to be shaken up, no doubt. Only AAP has this as an agenda. But in implementing this agenda, the party needs to take care that its cadres don't become like the vigilantes of the French revolution. Or like the Youth Congress during the Emergency.

Seetha is a senior journalist and author