During the last national election I voted for Aam Admi Party (AAP). It is not that I was expecting AAP to win in any way, and as expected the candidate lost the deposit in my constituency. More expectedly, the 'social worker' AAP candidate switched to a different political party after few months of Modi wave blowing the country. My wife passed few edgy remarks on me! I knew that AAP was not only going to loose, but loose badly! How can I still vote for AAP? I failed to make her understand that the reason was a single word: Hope. And that is just not limited to an election. In principle, in AAP I found that hope.
We are now standing in front of a possible mile stone where I am holding my breathe! Day after tomorrow, the results of the Delhi assembly election would be out, and the exit polls predominantly predict AAP being the winner. If that is the case, what does it signify to indian politics?
Most importantly, it will show that an election in India still can be fought and won without the help of a major amount of 'unaccounted' corporate money - you decide on the 'color' ;) - and a dynastic name tag. This is the classic case of old school politics where party members go door-to-door/ community-to-community and speak with people. They depend on the modern day technologies, but also realise that via technology based communications, even though we can reach out to a certain section, but we can not hear the voice of a larger part of the electorate. AAP succeeded in this front immensely. People of Delhi are surely looking for tangible changes in their life, but first of all, they are happy that there are some people who are ready to listen. In the end, BJP (main opposition) also had to take that path. Is it not wonderful for the Indian democracy that the established political parties are forced to go back to the 'forgotten' paths?
Emergence of AAP as a major political force in Delhi shows that the politics of economy, if done correctly, can win you a vote. The existing political class keep telling the very poor section of the society what they think good for the poor. And it circles around GDP, stock market, reform etc. But the poor do not understand these, and at the end of the day, they still would like to get the bijli-sadak-pani (electricity-road-water) - whatever the way might be! AAP in its campaign was never very clear about the 'way', but they kept talking about 'bijli-sadak-pani' as their main agenda, and it seems to have resonated with people. If AAP makes the Govt, its greatest challenge would be to carving out the 'way', and the economics of that path is not very easy!
The most talked about issue about AAP is its political funding. Except for the '2 crores' issue that surfaced at the very end, no (a)political organisation raised any finger to their funding processes. I demand that AAP and other political parties investigate the '2 crores' issue at the end of the election. But the existing political class is morally so corrupt in this respect that they themselves would not like to push it much. People can not raise fingers to parties like Congress and BJP whose 50-60% money is unaccounted. The people just can not help but succumb to the existing system of corrupt political funding. In that system, AAP is a ray of hope!
Can this model of AAP be replicated in other parts of India? Not definitely in a short period of time. Delhi election shows how much hard work is needed in winning an election by a political party. This is more so when you are not winning in a bubble as AAP did in the last election before the '49 days government'. I was extremely happy that the bubble was punctured - unfortunately by quitting from the Govt. It was fake. But this time, if AAP wins, it is due to their hard work, not partially because of the 'revolution' Arvind Kejriwal was leading at the end Anna movement.
AAP also has succeeded to run a campaign that was beyond the standard equations of caste, religion or sects. It seems that they took care of these factors in selecting a candidate, but their campaign was never along these issues. Indeed this is a very welcome move.
AAP also has succeeded to run a campaign that was beyond the standard equations of caste, religion or sects. It seems that they took care of these factors in selecting a candidate, but their campaign was never along these issues. Indeed this is a very welcome move.
Surely, AAP winning the Delhi election is going to take some glow off from BJP, and in particular from Narendra Modi. But they are the victims of their own mistakes in Delhi. BJP made a political blunder in making the Delhi election 'so big', and making Arvind Kejriwal (AK) such a 'strong opponent'. Now if they loose, the stake is also in proportion.
The little personal story at the very beginning also tells us the truth about AAP supporters. Just after the Anna movement, many 'social workers' believed (in this case, they are typically very rich) that this is the time to join politics, and what else better can it be than joining the flavour of the day? They joined AAP! At the end of '49 days' blunder, the color changed, and so these people. In a disguise, this was good for AAP. The numbers now might be small, but the group is more stronger and cohesive.
What about AAP loosing the Delhi election? Surely, that would be a great disappointment for me personally, but I sincerely hope that AAP sticks with their guns. Fundamentally, AAP is not a force just to win an election, it is more about an political experiment where results are expected to come only after many failed attempts! But each failed attempt teaches us how to design the experiment for the next time. Assembly election would be followed by the municipal elections in 2017. You do the experiment again in finding the result.
On the other hand, if BJP looses the Delhi election, I do sincerely think that it is going to be good for BJP in longer runs. And surely, the country is going to benefit from it. Loosing Delhi election can work as a reality check for BJP. After Modi taking over Delhi, the people of India have started to feel that we also have a federal Govt, and that was missing for long during the UPA II. But, many a times, if not always, that feeling is through publicity, not through tangible work on the ground in last eight months. Our prime minister must take note of this, and AAP winning can force him to take a step back, also possibly in reducing the use of twitter ;) Before the election, you must tell what you want to do as being the prime minister. But once you are, your work itself can suffice!
Keeping my fingers crossed! Surely, the exit polls have given me some air, but still holding it ... Enjoy the dance! :)
