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| Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) |
In October 2012, there was lots
of furore among the masses in India when Mr. Robert Vadra , son in law of
Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi updated his Facebook status message by writing "Mango men in a banana republic”. Social activist then, and now a
regional party Chief Mr. Arvind Kejriwal
had tweeted, "Evidence pouring in from mango men from across the country. Mango men
would prove to be nemesis for the 'powerful'. No political pundit, no soothsayer , no man with a logic , none
of the think tanks could have ever imagined that a Mango Man(Aam AAdmi) in the form of Mr. Kejriwal
will prove his prediction right. Delhi assembly election results have made
people sit up and take note of this phenomenon called ‘Aam Aadmi Party(AAP)’
and has forced them to solve this quagmire.
I bet this will become a Harvard Case Study and the best brains in the
world for years, will analyze this event from multiple angles and dimensions.
None will ever solve this puzzle in its entirety because the power to sway
fortunes lies in the minds of millions of voters who exercise ballot to give a
verdict.
When I write this article, AAP is
seeking public opinion on forming a ‘minority government’ in Delhi with outside
support from Congress. (To share with my readers, In Delhi
assembly of 70 seats BJP is the single largest party with 32 legislators, AAP
with 28 and Congress with 8 of them). My bet is Mr. Arvind Kejriwal
will bite the bullet and will be sworn in as the next Chief Minister of Delhi
state. I intend to present some facts and in their light analyze Jan
Lokpal Movement, Formation of Aam Aadmi Party, Enrolling members and gaining
public support, Role of social media in AAP’s success, their strategy and
future vision.
In 2011, an outfit by the name India
Against Corruption (IAC) launched a campaign to mobilize the masses for
the creation of a Lokpal (ombudsman) to punish government officials accused of
corruption. Two prominent faces Yog Guru Ramdev and Anna
Hazare a veteran social reformer with a history of undertaking fasts in
support of his causes spearheaded this movement. While Ramdev brought with him millions
of middle class supporters from urban areas, villages and small towns in India,
Hazare’s support base comprised of mostly middle-class people from urban areas
and idealistic youths. The viewpoint was that people in power are not only neck deep in corruption
but have become shameless in acceptance of their deeds. This was start of a revolt
against the corrupt , an uprising by the letdown and a clear expression of people’s anger,
frustration, dissent and hopelessness with the system which continues till
today.
To really figure out what gave
birth to Aam Aadmi Party we need to understand the current social and political
climate of India and also how has it evolved over the years. India has been
ruled for more than five decades by Congress, a party where power is concentrated
with the title ‘Gandhi’ and for few years by BJP which had a charismatic leader
in the form of Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. When we got freedom the country was so
poor that the talk of providing food, shelter and clothing resonated well with
the masses. Primarily an agrarian economy that had few heavy industries, small
and medium enterprises, Congress was able to keep people interested in its
governance model. I would rather say they could fool people, govern them, keep
power concentrated within the family and run the country as a family business. The
cracks started to appear when Janta Party stormed into power in 1977, National
front in 1989 and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 1998. What is interesting to note is Congress could still manage to get power over and again.
The countrymen who were very poor in 1947 became a big chunk of aspiring middle
class in 90’s and educated and informed young brigade in 2000’s. While the
working population fought for agriculture and milk revolutions in 50’s and 60’s,
the people in 90’s faced reservation and liberalization whereas the present
population is standing up for non-governance , corruption and accountability.
This is how we as a nation have matured and continue to do so to ensure that
our rights and privileges as a citizen of a democratic country are protected.
The country supported this
movement of Anna Hazare and participated in massive numbers with an expectation
that a new hope was born. What Hazare could not understand is that after rising
to such a height and raising people’s expectations one has to deliver. Protests,
Fasts, Revolts are good to bring out grievances but there has to be a plan that
needs to be executed to get justice done. This is what Arvind Kejriwal could read
very well and a direct involvement in politics was preferable, in order to
cause change from within the system. This led to formation of AAM AADMI PARTY (AAP), an outfit that
was a direct deliverable of the IAC movement. In fact it was good that Anna
Hazare did not take this step or else he would have been accused of being
opportunist and harboring political ambitions and betraying people’s faith by
pursuing his personal agenda.
Aam Aadmi Party had to create
enough noise to always remain in the news and media and they did so by picking
up on scams and political figures, issues like electricity and water bill, inflation,
women security, unemployment etc . Every week there was a disclosure and media picked
up the threads very well. I would say much of the support and discreet
information to AAP in the initial days came from disgruntled partymen of the
ruling government and opposition leaders. The public already knew of all the day
to day embezzlements, major scams which ultimately resulted into inflation,
poverty and shrinking standards of living but they were helpless. They were
excited at the prospect of a party having the gumption to take the powerful
heads on and washing their dirty linen in public. Somewhere a support base of AAP
was forming in every nook and corner of the society.
To grow from a miniscule base of
supporters and few party men, AAP had to do radical things to ensure it was
prepared well in time for Delhi assembly elections. There were few strategies
that they adopted like using Social Media as a platform to talk to the youth
and the internet workforce, making a portal to enroll members instantly, seeking
donations in a transparent manner and building local groups within all the constituencies
of Delhi to reach out to people. While
the old timers in other political parties are still ignorant of the power of
internet AAP ensured that it harnesses its potential to the fullest. Other
parties were unaware as to how to use technology to build a base or communicate
to its supporters, and first time voters. Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, Mailers,
Forums, Blogs and Online news were heavily consuming information about AAP and
spreading its base like a wild fire. The opponents dismissed this as a new
generation gimmick and never considered this as a threat. What they forgot is
that this is an information age and it takes seconds for breaking news to spread
in the entire country. No one else in the battlefield was in the fray when it
came to internet usage and AAP had a distinct advantage. They re-enforced there
campaign by door to door meetings , Mohalla Sabhas , ads at the back of Auto
Rickshaws ( the most visible and most mobile ad platform with the widest reach),
protests , fasts and demonstrations making sure the noise grows louder and
louder. The support base had now multiplied many folds with NRI’s pouring in
money, youth participating online, middle class discussing about AAP and the
poor curious to know about them.
Come elections and AAP adopted a
novel way to pick its candidates. They asked ticket aspirants to take referendum
from the public and prove their credentials and support to be even considered
for the selection process. Out of all the shortlisted candidates the final
choice had lots of weightage to honesty, integrity, morality and selflessness.
I would not say that all of their candidates were high on these parameters but
in general they were far better than their opponents. AAP had build in people’s
mind the criteria that they should look for, in their elected representatives.
Again the established parties failed to read the public sentiment and repeated
most of their candidates, nepotism and favoritism playing a big part. The final
nail in the coffin was AAP’s election manifesto the highlights of which were a
clean and corruption free government, bringing Swaraj -decentralization of
power, reducing water and electricity bills, regularizing unauthorized colonies,
giving massive employment, controlling inflation and providing a safe society. The
base of AAP had grown by leaps and bounds now, with the poor and oppressed
joining the bandwagon irrespective of caste and creed.
The results are there for everyone
to see and AAP’s success has taken everyone by surprise. No one expected this
kind of spectacular debut from a party that was just 1 year old. As I wind up
this article AAP is going to stake a claim in the coming week to form a
government and we will have Mr. Arvind Kejriwal as the next Chief Minister of
Delhi and the game will become more interesting from here on.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
