AAP (Aam Aadmi Party)
led by tenacious Arvind Kejriwal arrived on Indian political horizon with a
bang on Dec 8, 2013 winning 28 out of 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly elections finishing
behind BJP who got 32 seats. The vanquished party (Congress) in a tactical move,
not liked by many Congressmen offered them unconditional support and Arvind
Kejriwal became 7th Chief Minister of Delhi embarking on his maiden legislative
journey amid great excitement of his supporters and grave concern of
detractors.
Leaving behind those
nightmarish episodes, Kejriwal should focus on administration so that he can
showcase his achievements of first 100 days in power- the usual honeymoon period allowed to a
new government. As he does not have a magic lamp, he should set a modest
target and focus on those items from his extensive laundry list which are less
complicated and can be done within a short period. Apart from water, power
and public transport, issues affecting the lives of common man like Govt
hospitals/schools, roads, women's security, rain water harvesting should be on
his menu. Rather than tinkering with the existing system, he could open up the
system itself and show its functioning to the public using modern IT tools, something
like an open kitchen. But he should refrain from conducting official business in maidans and stadiums instead of Assembly and Secretariat.
Resorting to acts of symbolism, populism and gimmickry will not fetch his party
extra votes and he may become all hat and no cattle. Unguarded comments (on
Kashmir and Maoists), sweeping remarks (on corrupt politicians), indiscriminate
announcements (on Khap panchayat)
will spread confusion and bitterness. He will be lost in the warren
of narrow vision if he tried his hands at too many things. Kejriwal would
do well to remember the golden saying, "One thing at a time and that done
well, is a very good rule as many can tell".
A word about the man of the moment - Kejriwal started his career in 1989 with Tata Steel after finishing IIT, joined IRS in 1995, founded an NGO Parivartan in 1999 while still in Income Tax Department which he left in 2006, was associated with RTI, Jan Lok Pal movements, participated in Anna Hazare Movement in 2011 and parted ways to form Aam Aadmi Party in Nov 2012. He is young, courageous, street smart and media savvy but the way he fell out with his mentors like Aruna Roy and Anna Hazare and former comrades like Kiran Bedi betrays his individualistic streak.
Kejriwal is not an
'Anarchist' and after becoming CM, he is no longer an 'Activist'. He should
also not dream of bringing a political revolution in India because he lacks the
vision, stature and charisma of intellectual giants from Trotsky (Permanent
revolution - 1905) to JP (Total Revolution - 1974) who exhorted the masses to
bring a revolutionary change in people's life but failed to bring the new dawn.
Even movements like Arab Spring (2010) and Anna Hazare (2011) which engendered
mass protests and generated great hope could not succeed in improving the
living conditions of common man. As a full-fledged politician his priority
should be to provide a clean government, devoid of functional anarchy, in
Delhi. It would not be easy as both his unwilling accomplice (Congress)
and those who missed the chair by a whisker (BJP) will make things difficult
for him.
To replicate the Delhi experiment
in other parts of India, he would require a cadre-based party which may
take years to build but that is the right way to go. A proper screening would
eliminate fake members and prevent those trying to leap on its bandwagon. Past
experience has shown that political leaders and parties take time to
grow and mature. Today's strong regional parties like SP, BSP, AIDMK, TMC,
TDP, BJD and their leaders have been in existence for decades. Drawn into the
vortex of real politics, always a treacherous terrain, Kejriwal will need
patience and nerve to play a long innings as in a 5-day test match rather than
its shorter version of T-20. If AAP can win even a dozen seats in 2014
elections and about 5% popular votes on its own, people will forget its
cacophonous beginning and hope for an amazing symphony in 2019. Failure to do so will merit soul-searching and taking AAP back to basics or disband it altogether and rejoin the biradari of activists.
Also see: The Kejriwal phenomenon
Also see: The Kejriwal phenomenon
Very meticulously analyzed RK and very valuable advise to him and his party. People have already started loosing faith on him and his party (including me) as fast as it gained success due to all the gimmicks and other points stated in your blog. Please recall my statement on all that euphoria when he won, "Aaagaz to achha hai anzam khuda jane" (good beginning but the fate only god knows) India needs new movement, so AAP do not blow this opportunity and fail us.
ReplyDeleteGimmicks have a short life.
DeleteVery detailed and apt views on AAP. Kejriwal should focus on smaller achievable issues than trying to create wonder. He ain't any god or superman. He should focus on few rather than all to ensure that he is moving in the right direction. Power has an effect of destroying good and he should wield it wisely or else he soon will become history. He needs to tread carefully and build on the momentum rather than just kill it. A difficult path and choice but this is what the AAM junta expects and it is time he realises it, before it gets too late. Hope better sense prevails and he is able to capitalise on this wave.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the detailed analysis. Hope they heed the valuable advise. My views on AAP, Kejriwal and his band of supporters are rather harsh. I believe that in every field dignity and decorum is the starting point. This creates the right atmosphere and a feeling of well being at large. Sadly AAP government is lacking in this department to a great extent. Whatever they have done so far gives an impression of amateur magicians trying to bamboozle gullible public. They have to first stabilize themselves and convey that they are here to stay. The controversies that they are creating leaves a bad taste. In addition to their stated goals, I wish they include the goal of bringing honesty and straightforwardness in public discourse. We are tired of clever talk and one-up-man-ship. Hope they learn soon.
ReplyDeleteDifficult to run with hare (people) and hunt with hounds (politicians).
DeleteMy compliments on your analysis. AAP , it seems has good intentions but poor methodology to achieve them. Out of box thinking is needed to deal with dismal state of affairs in governance as one has to outwit those interested in status quo, but AAP must first consolidate its precarious position. If it fails to survive it would have lost a golden opportunity. It would not be then convincing to pass on the blame on to Congress or BJP. A sort of movement which is good for Indian politics seemed to be building up around AAP and there will be no one more than AAP responsible for prematurely extinguishing it. Consolidation of first innings is most important for Mr Kejriwal at this stage rather than thinking of wiping out the opposition in the series.
ReplyDeleteIf you have just arrived on the pitch, watch for the bounce and movements before hitting out.
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