Events & Issues
New Delhi, 26 November 2012
Aam Admi Party
DEATH OF IAC
MOVEMENT?
By Proloy Bagchi
Arvind Kejriwal has made quite a splash since going
political. The energetic activist has finally launched his party, naming it the
‘Aam Admi Party’. He promises that it
will empower the common-man and that its representatives would be from the
grassroots up to national level. The party’s vision in his words is “Swaraj.
People should get the raj”. Be that as
it may, the big question is will he continue his campaign against the
entrenched political establishment with the same gusto or will he be restrained?
His serial exposes, virtually like ‘bombs’, have already
scorched Robert Vadra, the son in-law of Sonia Gandhi, the UPA Chairperson,
minister Salman Khurshid, the suave but known loyalist of Gandhi, Nitin
Gadkari, the reigning president of the principal Opposition – the BJP,
billionaire Mukesh Ambani, the Reliance Industries Chief and, lately, sugar
mill owners of Western Maharashtra, presumably targeting the Maharashtra
strongman Sharad Pawar. The Ambanis came in for further treatment in Kejriwal’s
accusations regarding their alleged ‘black’ accounts in foreign banks.
Widely reported, discussed and debated in the print and
electronic media, Kejriwal’s accusations need no repetition here. Suffice to
say that most of his allegations, like those against Vadra, Khurshid, Gadkari
etc., were on the basis of documentary evidences either ferreted out by him/his
colleagues in India Against Corruption (IAC) or given to him by people who got
adversely impacted by the wrong-doings of the accused. By administering
practically a weekly dose of accusations against some politician or the other
of substance, he literally put fear of God in the corrupt among them. Setting a
veritable cat among the pigeons, he made many politicians anxious making them
wonder whether they would be next in line for the crucifixion.
Going political for Kejriwal was, apparently, a necessity.
His 9-day fast in July earlier this year failed to achieve any result. Perhaps,
it was ill-timed as Parliament was not in session. The political class just
ignored it and the Government did not yield to the demand of constitution of a
special investigating team for investigating the 15 Central ministers who were
alleged to have had cases of corruption against them. Kejriwal, apparently,
thought it was best to fight the politicians politically and beat them in their
own game. That, however, meant severance of the ties with the Gandhian, Anna
Hazare, who has always been averse to politics and politicking.
Sadly, in the process, the movement that mobilised in droves
the middle classes for the first time ever got not only divided losing its
innate strength, it also lost focus. Parting ways with Anna, while Kejriwal got
busy in his weekly exposes and stray acts of civil disobedience, Anna, though
indirectly supportive of the former, was got engaged in collecting like-minded
people around him for his own brand of anti-corruption movement. The IAC
campaigns of April and August 2011 had a singular aim, that of eradication of
corruption through the instrumentality of enactment of a law for creation of an
independent and powerful Lokpal (ombudsman). In the backdrop of massive
corruption in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and allotment of 2G spectrum, it
caught the imagination of the people, especially of the youth and the rising
numbers of middle classes.
As the movement gathered strength in August 2011 the media,
too, got into the act and gave extensive round-the-clock coverage. And, the
tech-savvy members of the IAC made deft use of the social media making the
movement to many observers somewhat akin to the campaigns in North Africa and West Asia for regime-change that eventually came to be
known collectively as “Arab Spring”. The Government at the Centre was flustered
and indulged in nervous acts exemplified by, inter alia, the attempt to wean
away from the movement Yoga Guru Ramdev who too had muscled in into it. The
attempt boomeranged and the political class was virtually brought to their
knees.
A “sense of the
house” resolution, first cleared by the Lok Sabha and later adopted by Rajya
Sabha, was unanimously passed agreeing action on all sticking points to pacify
Anna. Acquiring a larger than life image, Anna broke his 11-day fast. Standing
as a colossus, he and the IAC activists mobilised public opinion charging up
the whole nation against political and bureaucratic corruption. A patently middle class movement, IAC’s
offshoots cropped up virtually in every nook and corner of the country. Young
and old joined it putting the Government on the back foot.
Journals abroad connected it with other such movements of
the middle classes in emerging markets. From Chile to China to North Africa and
Middle East to India middle classes rose against the established systems for
reasons as varied as environmental degradation (in China), overbearing role of
public sector in the field of education (in Chile), against autocratic
dictatorships in Arab countries and rampant political and bureaucratic
corruption in India.
The rise of middle classes, especially in developing Asia, has given them a new-found power to swing changes
in the polity. The most rapid rise has been in India
and China
and today they are restive and are eagerly seeking the good life. In India, with
about 20 % of the population in the middle classes the political class has been
compelled to pay, unlike in the past, greater attention to their views.
One had hoped from the run-away success of the movement that
the IAC would eventually emerge somewhat like The Tea Party in the US – minus its
ideology – pressurising political parties to choose clean candidates and work
for their election. By itself the IAC clearly had no way of getting round the
prevailing electoral system. For it the best option, therefore, seemed to be to
try and bring as many clean candidates into Parliament as possible to get rid
of the scourge of corruption.
Alas, that was not to be. A set of circumstances, from
Anna’s failing health to the machinations of the politicians to an ill-timed
campaign in July 2012 and eventually a veritable split in the IAC ensured the
death of the movement that had raised such hopes. The dramatis personae could
not see eye to eye about the progression of the movement although all are
committed to the cause of eradication of corruption. With two branches of it
going their separate ways their respective strengths have mitigated as also
their impact. Though Kejriwal has made a few explosive revelations with wide
coverage in the media, yet the response from urban India has not been as resounding as
that of last year.
The 2014 elections not being far away, Kejriwal has given
himself a daunting task to organise the Aam
Admi Party to enter the money-dominated Indian electoral process. He has
aimed to begin his political debut in the Delhi Assembly elections due
end-2013. Only time will tell how he fares in his enterprise. The middle
classes, however, feel betrayed by the IAC. Surely, they would have liked the
entire bunch to work together resolving their differences with a view to
sticking together until at least the elections in 2014. Unless the Aam Aadmi
Party does a miracle. --- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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