If something seems too good to be true, they say, then it probably is not true. The Aam Aadmi Party’s phenomenal rise and success in Delhi offers us a dream that does seem too good to be true. It gives us hope for honest politicians, clean politics, social justice and proper governance. Stuff that we, the beleaguered citizens of India, had practically given up on.
But then came Arvind Kejriwal and his bewildering team of non-politicians. And within months of stepping into politics, they swept the grand old Congress Party out with their little ‘jharoos.’ The new kid on the block bagged 28 out of 70 seats of the Delhi Legislative Assembly in its first ever elections, emerging a close second to the BJP, which got just four seats more. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was clearly not as much of a joke as the BJP and the Congress would have us believe. And it certainly could not be wished away.
Though officially a political party now, having broken out of its mass movement avatar, the AAP remains essentially an eclectic group of people of all ages and from diverse economic, cultural, educational, professional and social backgrounds, who have plunged into politics out of sheer exasperation and anger. For voters, AAP stands for not just the common people as they declare loudly and forcefully, but also for the voice of the citizens who have been deprived far too long of their rights and privileges. It made AAP (meaning ‘you’ – a smart acronym for a party that wished to genuinely represent the people) a very special party.
Unlike other political parties, AAP’s fight is not just for votes, it is a fight for citizens’ rights, a fight against corruption and injustice, a fight to reclaim one’s place in a democracy. And it touched a chord with an electorate that was tired and enraged at being consistently cheated and denied their rights. It promised strength to the helpless. It promised justice to the wronged. It promised a functional democracy to the cynical.
And it would do all this by giving citizens their own, real representatives. Not professional ‘netas.’ Not dynastic leaders. Not politicians so deeply sunk in corruption that no one knew what ground they actually stood on.
Instead, AAP gave us idealists from different walks of life – professionals, workers, students, administrators and others. It went for honest people, people who were not linked to crime. It chose candidates from people nominated by locals. It went door-to-door, asking people what they wanted put into the party manifesto. It gave identity politics a wide berth. It didn’t bother to bribe voters. It just showed them a dream and offered them honest candidates from real life. In short, AAP shook the political order.
In many ways AAP reminds one of the last such political party that was born of a genuine people’s movement – JP or Jayaprakash Narayan’s movement for total revolution in the 1970s that gave birth to the Janata Party. The success of the Janata Party cannot be measured only by its own electoral profile, it needs to be assessed also in terms of the new vistas of politics that it opened up, and all the new parties it inspired or eventually led to. Similarly, Kejriwal and friends’ call to the public to join this fight against a corrupt political system was rooted in one of the biggest mass movements of contemporary India led by the much-respected social activist and Gandhian, Anna Hazare. And perhaps the success of AAP should be assessed not by the number of seats it won in Delhi or may win in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but by the paradigm shift it seems set to bring about in Indian politics.
Already there is significant discomfort among political parties regarding candidates with criminal backgrounds. There is an effort to at least appear less corrupt than they may be. There is more acceptance of the Jan Lokpal and the idea of cleaner, fairer politics. And over time there would be, I believe, many more changes – generally positive – which would considerably revamp our incredibly corrupt, hypocritical, populist yet people-unfriendly political system as a whole. AAP had promised “a systemic alternative by way of radical political decentralisation”, and they seem pretty capable of pulling it off.
Following its stupendous debut in the Delhi elections, AAP had released a statement thanking its volunteers and clarifying its position once again to the electorate. In it the party explained clearly why it would not join hands with the BJP or Congress to form the government. “We wish to assure the citizens of Delhi that AAP shall not take part in any political wheeling-dealing that might ensue following this ‘hung verdict’,” it stated. “We have made a solemn promise to the voters of Delhi that we shall neither seek nor offer support to any part of the corrupt political establishment of the country.” This way the political newborn kept the flag if idealism flying high and the hope of clean participatory democracy alive among the people.
And this was not the only way AAP differed from the customary politics of convenience. Here is the list of firsts that AAP’s post-win statement points out: “For the first time in the history of the country a political party collected ‘white money’ for politics, made full disclosure of all donations received, met the target that it had set and refused to take any more donations. Perhaps for the first time, a political party withdrew support to its official candidate purely on moral grounds… For the first time, a political party issued manifestos for every single constituency. AAP broke away from the politics of caste and community vote banks and revived the culture of door to door canvassing…”
Harnessing the anger of a people treated too shabbily by politicians for too long is a good start for any political party armed with idealism and battling for justice. But the long-term success of AAP would lie in the way it handles issues of governance, economy and policy. It would certainly make a fantastic Opposition. But what about a fantastic ruling party? Well, going by its quick learning abilities it should have a blueprint for good governance, social justice and a strong economy ready soon enough.
Besides, whatever its personal achievements, it is clear that the very presence of AAP will make the 2014 Lok Sabha elections a little less corrupt, a little more honourable and bring it a little closer to what participatory democracy is supposed to be.
Antara Dev Sen is Editor, *The Little Magazine*. Email: sen@littlemag.com
Antara Dev Sen
