09 January 2014, 02:45 PM IST
It's not just the homeless people in Delhi who, in the biting cold, are in search of shelter. The newly anointed chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, is also looking for a roof over his head in the capital.
It's not that the leader of AAP is a pavement dweller. The former IRS officer lives with his family in a modest apartment in Ghaziabad, in the National Capital Region. But as CM of Delhi, for reasons of convenience and work efficiency if nothing else, Kejri should have a residence in the city proper.
However, the two 5-bedroom apartments offered to him in posh central Delhi fell foul of the AAP's pre-election manifesto according to which its members would not avail themselves of VIP perks like red beacons on their vehicles and opulent accommodation.
So where's the poor CM to stay?
It mightn't be a bad idea if Kejri were to offer to seek paying guest (PG) accommodation in one of the many jhuggi-jhopri clusters that are spread like warts over the otherwise pampered and unblemished face of our showcase capital city.
Indeed, the AAP leader would consider residence-hopping, moving from one jhuggi-jhopri home to another, perhaps on a bed-and-breakfast (B&B) basis. After all what better way to identify with aam admi – and, what is perhaps more important, what better way to get aam admi to identify with you – than to go and live with aam admi?
Living with Delhi's aam admi, the CM would best be able to monitor first-hand if his election pledge of giving 700 litres of free water to each household, and 50 per cent cheaper electricity to low-volume consumers was being honoured by the utility providers.
Free paani and subsidised bijli apart, by living with aam admi Kejri would experience for himself the day-to-day problems which beset the common citizens of the city which has been put under his charge.
Does every jhuggi-jhopri home have a toilet? If not, where people go to answer nature's calls? How safe, or unsafe, are women in such places? Do street lights work at night? Is there a higher incidence of crime in such areas as compared with other, better-policed parts of the city?
Moreover, living with aam admi, the CM would have his ear to the ground, so to speak, and discover exactly what common folk thinks of him and of his party.
Some kings of olden times were said to disguise themselves as commoners and mingle with the aam janata in bazaars and other public places to overhear conversations and comments which would reveal what the people thought and felt about their ruler.
Latter-day monarchs – such as netas like Indira Gandhi – who for all their claims to champion the cause of the common man lived in ivory towers surrounded by sycophants who told them what they wanted to hear often got a rude shock when the next election came round, as happened in 1977 after the Congress-imposed Emergency was lifted and the party found itself unceremoniously ejected from office.
So stop house-hunting, Kejri. Head for the nearest jhuggi-jhopri. And look out for B&B signs.
jug.suraiya@timesgroup.com
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