Finally, referendum is over in the Great Britain. Majority of
the British citizens have voted in favour of Brexit. This means that Britain
would proceed towards an exit from the European Union. Newspaper headlines are
full with aftershocks of this historic result. The whole world is suffering
from the after effects; in form of crashing of stock exchanges and depreciation
in currencies. As usual; the media in India; is using this episode to feed the
never ending craving for 24X7 news. The Indian media appears to be confused
whether this event has taken place in Britain or in India. Some of the newspapers
are also full of sound-bites which were supposedly given by PM Modi; in favour
of Britain remaining with EU or in favour of British citizens’ great
intelligence in choosing their future course of action. Anything which happens
in the western world is worth emulating in India; this is the belief of most of
the Indians. Another person who appears to believe in this dictum is the
greatest Chief Minister which the half-state of Delhi has ever got. Kejriwal promptly
tweeted that after the referendum in Britain, there would be a referendum in
Delhi. The problem with apparently short statements on twitter is; it can be
loaded with meaning. Sometimes, it is even prone to being subjected to endless postmortem
by the chattering classes. Let us see what happens when a group of over
intelligent people sits to discuss such an important topic as a referendum in
Delhi.
Chatterati 1: “Have you read the tweet by Arwind Kejriwal?
He is hell bent on conducting a referendum in Delhi; on the lines of referendum
in the UK.”
Chatterati 2: “Yeah! It appears that he wants a referendum
on whether Delhi should be with the European Union or not.”
Chatterati 3: “But to the best of my knowledge, Delhi had
never been a part of EU. It appears that Kejriwal is thinking of Delhi’s
possible exit from the Indian Union.”
Chatterati 1: “Anyway, he never seems to be happy with the
current or past regimes in the Raisina Hills. He believes that Delhi should get
a greater degree of autonomy. At least the Delhi Police should be with him.”
Chatterati 2: “But Delhi Police always claims that it is
with you forever.”
Chatterati 3: “No, No! Kejriwal is not talking about that
punch-line. He wants the Delhi Police to be under the control of the government
of Delhi. He has calculated that huge amount of booty is being channelized to
the Union Home Minister through Delhi Police; and he is left sulking without
getting any whiff of it.”
Chatterati 1: “Arwind Kejriwal is a self-proclaimed anarchist.
He wants to rule over Delhi with an iron hand and does not want even a
slightest murmur of protest or criticism. The best way to achieve this is to
have Delhi fully under his control. Delhi out of the Indian Union is the best
option to achieve this target.”
Chatterati 2: “But to the best of my knowledge, the founding
fathers of our nation did away with the concept of referendum. They argued that
India is too fragmented a society to be fit for referendum.”
Chatterati 3: “But Delhi is the best state in terms of per
capita income, literacy level and number of cars. Delhites are intelligent
enough to handle referendum with ease.”
Chatterati 1: “I have heard that some exit polls are
suggesting the Kejriwal’s party is going to form government in Punjab. What would
then happen in Punjab? He will also demand secessions for Punjab.”
Chatterati 2: “That would be a dreaded prospect. Anyway,
what is the guarantee that Kejriwal will conduct a full-proof referendum? Is he
going to take the services of the great psephologist Yogendra Yadav?
Chattearati 3: “No way, Kejrwial’s team is full of highly
intelligent people. Kejriwal himself is enough to take care of all the pains of
conducting a referendum. He is master at twisting the facts and figures to come
out with a favourable result. He will take the services of Rakhi Bidlan and
Somnath Bharti.”
Chatterati 1: “What will happen if Delhi decides in favour
of exiting from the Indian Union? Will the capital of India shift back to
Kolkata?”
Chatterati 2: “It may shift to Varanasi or even to Ahmadabad.”
Meanwhile, Kejriwal has conducted a fresh press conference
to clarify his position on referendum. He is telling that there would be a
referendum which will decide about the company which is going to take over the
supply of electricity in Delhi. There would be no more Reliance involved in
electricity supply in Delhi.
