Open Forum
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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