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elhi Under Siege: ‘AAP-EFFECT’ TAKES A BEATING, By Proloy Bagchi, 22 Jan, 2014 Print E-mail

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New Delhi, 22 January 2014

Delhi Under Siege

‘AAP-EFFECT’ TAKES A BEATING

By Proloy Bagchi

 

The ‘Aap-effect’ has been lost! So it appears, after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s fiasco dharna against the Union Home Ministry, in the heart of the Capital. The big question being asked is: what did he get out of the confrontation at the end of the day? Two errant policemen being sent on “leave with full pay”, as against his demand for all five being suspended!

 

Undoubtedly, Kejriwal’s hasty decision has cost him a large chunk of his supporters, and he must have sensed it when he decided to call off his dharna.  For two days, the Aam Admi Party Government had put none other than the aam admi into inconvenience, with metro stations closed down and roads being blocked. This apart, many would be questioning whether it was right for Kejriwal to adopt this form of protest when he is now the Chief Minister. The answer was loud and clear: this time, his call to Delhiites to join his protest, got a cold response. 

 

So where does it take him from here? With the media, his biggest supporter, going against him, he would need to rethink strategy and can ill-afford to be ‘an angry young man’ or “an anarchist” as he says. The dharna is the second of his ideas, going sour. The AAP’s first attempt at holding a “Janata Durbar” ended in chaos. But it did yield three significant revelations. One, it showed how inexperienced the Party is, failing to anticipate the massive response even after it gave the Congress a drubbing to remember in the Assembly elections. Two, the massive crowds at the Durbar indicated the terrible number of grievances that people have been left nursing by the Congress. Three, expectations of the people from the AAP are at a perilous high.

 

Notwithstanding the dharna misfortune, it goes without saying that ever since the AAP made a spectacular splash at the Assembly elections, politics in India has not remained the same. The plain and simple common man-like speech devoid of rhetoric at the Assembly by Kejriwal before the confidence vote and his Cabinet’s low-key style of living and functioning seems to have powerfully stirred up Indian politics, giving it a churn that has hardly ever been seen before.

 

Popularly known as the “AAP-effect”, it forced even the established parties to change and reframe their political ways. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi admired the AAP’s direct “engagement” with people. He has now decided to break away from the tradition and consult the people, their spokespersons and party workers for choosing candidates for 2014 General Elections. Seemingly, tickets will no longer be distributed on the basis of money or muscle power or even for proximity to the local, state-level or national-level leaders, as Rahul stated at the AICC session.

 

As the AAP chose only those who were “clean” and selfless workers, Gandhi is also emphasising on “clean” candidates – a severe break from the usual practice. Criminals and moneybags, hitherto considered sure winners at elections, are going to be kept out. It, however, remains to be seen to what extent he succeeds as he may have to contend with the power and influence of numerous mighty and well-entrenched people.

 

The “AAP-effect” was being seen in manifesting itself in other ways too. For example, after the AAP Government sought to cut electricity tariff by half, the Congress-NCP Government in Maharashtra has decided to cut down its tariff. In Rajasthan, Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, a royal from Dholpur, spurned a big official bungalow and chose to continue to operate from her much smaller MLA’s quarters. She also initially gave up the use of official vehicles and the news had it that on the day of her swearing-in she came to the Assembly in an auto-rickshaw! However, later, she gave up her red beacon, escort vehicles and cut down her security shield by half, extending the same spirit of renunciation to her Cabinet colleagues.

 

Officials have been asked to do away with the services of Government minions at home and shed the practice of using official vehicles for personal business. A veritable austerity drive has been launched and a conscious attempt is being made to do away with the hated VIP culture. Somewhere behind all this lurks that wish to give up the feudal lifestyle and identify with the common man.

 

In Madhya Pradesh, third-time Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, had caught on to the messages emanating from Delhi pretty early. From getting into a Dalit home by surprise and sharing a meal with the inmates, to sending strong messages against corruption by keeping out of the Cabinet tainted former ministers, surprise visits to offices and midnight romps through the city streets to check night-shelters for the poor – all were kind of leaves taken out of the AAP’s book.

 

Many may not notice it but the winds of change are beginning to blow across the country. Omar Abdullah, Jammu and Kashmir’s young Chief Minister very aptly remarked “...whether we like or dislike it, new political atmosphere, a new wave has started in the country, the name of which is AAP”. He should know, as even Kashmiris, fed up with their corrupt politicians, see a ray of hope in AAP. Others see it as influencing politics for the better. Will it continue to do so?

 

With transparent funding, particularly by small donors, the Party is run by young volunteers fired by a hitherto unseen sense of patriotism. A columnist, says all this is a welcome antidote to years of public cynicism towards India’s two big parties – “corrupt, geriatric and in thrall, in the case of Congress, to dynasts”. No wonder, both Congress and BJP are wary of the new-kid-on-the-block, lest it throws the proverbial spanner in their works.

 

The AAP effect, till the dharna, has also been amply visible on the generally indifferent and apolitical middle classes. Reports indicate swarms of people trying to become its members so much so that at Kolkata a problem of shortage of receipts had cropped up. All kinds of people, from students to doctors, to businessmen and to professionals and corporate leaders, are joining up. It appears to be a movement of the civil society in shades that resemble the one led by Anna Hazare two years ago. Already as many as 20 lakh have joined up, around 15 since the victory at Delhi. 

 

The Party has also enlarged its footprint by establishing presence in 309 districts and opening up as many as 322 offices across the country. One fears that having tasted success and with its rising popularity the Party may become more ambitious and deviate from its charted path. The dharna, is a clear example.

 

Having formed the Government in Delhi the Party, at least for the time being, should concentrate on good governance. It should also not shift focus from its anti-corruption plank that brought it to power. By restricting it to controlling high levels of corruption and tightening governance in all areas of governmental functioning in Delhi it would prove to be more effective in providing relief to the troubled “common man”, an objective that it has all along cherished. But, it must refrain from theatrics.—INFA.

 

(Copyright, India News and  Feature Alliance)

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