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aam aadmi party
Idealism meets hard politics |
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A connect with people that gave the sweep
The clincher — honest, innovative campaign
Candidates selected on US pattern 28 MLAs of Aam aadmi Party in delhi
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Uncommon rise of the common man’s party The rise of AAP on the political firmament may only be the beginning of a new brand of politics. Established parties would be wise to take note. Vibha Sharma  AAP activists erupt in joy following the party’s astounding win in the Delhi elections. The pro-AAP wave in Delhi went unnoticed by Congress and BJP leaders, who let their complacency get the better of them. Tribune photos: Mukesh Aggarwal THE first elections are to lose, the second to defeat, and the third to win. These words of Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram have been roundly proved wrong by the most talked about newbie in politics, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its convener Arvind Kejriwal. The “rookie” was mocked at by political opponents, but December 8 proved that the right “soch”, a thought, can create space for itself in the warped politics of the day. Hit by the hurly burly of elections, it is not easy for the media to talk to Kejriwal, who is still upset with those who ran “edited” footage of an alleged sting by a web portal on certain prominent members of his party purportedly showing them agreeing to accept cash for illegitimate purposes. He says AAP was denied due airtime. An encounter with him brought out a man with unwavering opinion, determination, logic and strong likes and dislikes. Nothing like the nonentity described by the two ‘mainstream’ parties, the BJP and the Congress. Kejriwal’s politics is unconventional, to say the least. Ask him a question, and you will get either a “yes” or a “no”, there is no room for ambiguity. It was his reasoned determination that made him stand firm on India Against Corruption’s version of the Lokpal Bill and, more recently, say “no” to form the government in Delhi with support from either the Congress or BJP. Kejriwal recalls, “A Jan Lokpal Bill was drafted by our joint drafting committee in June 2011, but we soon realised corrupt parties will not allow any independent and credible Lokpal, as it would send half of their ministers and many leaders to jail. “That is why we had to form a political party. We realised we will need to be in legislature to get the Jan Lokpal Bill we want. So how can we take support from those who are party to the farce being played out in Parliament in the name of Lokpal Bill? “Had they been honest there would have been no need for us to enter politics. Whether it is the Congress or BJP, both are corrupt, with similar ideologies and beliefs. People who were angry with them voted for us. Unilateral or unconditional, we wanted no support from either of them. If the two are so bothered about the people and the burden of another election on the exchequer, then they can come together and form a government,” he argues. There are times in democracy, he says, when tough decisions have to be taken for a better future and this is one of them. “We will return with a bigger number and form our own government”.
The fourth floor Just as AAP pressed that much-needed “refresh” button in Indian politics, the fourth-floor apartment in Kaushambhi (Ghaziabad) in which Kejriwal lives with his family — parents, wife Sunita, daughter Harshita and son Pulkit — is a refreshing change for those used to seeing politicians living in opulence. The ‘4’ button in the lift of the grey building — one of many in a cluster — is the most worn out. But the humble flat was silent when The Tribune made an early morning call, as Kejriwal was slightly ill and Sunita was keeping away intruders. Hands folded, she was seen requesting a group of local politicians to return later. Strictly keeping away from politics, Sunita, a serving IRS officer, refuses to comment on either AAP or her husband’s political career. On leave for almost two years now, she had joined work a few weeks back, but after issues cropped up over her posting she has again been at home. As Kejriwal’s mother walks by, an attempt is made to engage her on the “giant killer”, but all she has to say with a smile is: “Arre baba, mujhe chhod do (Please, let me be)”. His younger brother Manoj works for IBM in Pune. In one of his earlier interactions with The Tribune, Kejriwal had fondly recounted the reaction of his then 10-year-old son on seeing his father on TV saying the fight against corruption would be taken forward by children. The little boy told his sister: “Papa wants us to take it forward, you do it.” After the giant step last week, AAP is planning to contest the 2014 General Election. Details are being worked out by a committee headed by close associate Yogender Yadav. “It will depend on the way the situation progresses, the people who join the movement,” Kejriwal says. Since the spectacular performance in Delhi, around 2 lakh people have joined AAP. The one-year-old party secured a vote share of 29.6 per cent against the winner BJP’s 34.2 per cent. AAP plans to contest on select Lok Sabha seats, putting up candidates against prominent people of the BJP and Congress. Ask him about Narendra Modi, and Kejriwal says it is common problems like the price of LPG and vegetables that are important to people. “Delhi election results are the victory of the people. The margin with which I won against Sheila Dikshit shows the extent of the common man’s anger against the Congress. We have nothing personal against any individual, be it Dikshit, Modi or Rahul Gandhi. The fact is only one man can save the country, the common man himself. “Delhi has been a historic mandate. The results proved that people respond to honesty and good intentions if given an option. Delhi is just a beginning. I request honest socio-political forces to join AAP and help make a change. Honest people in other parties who are feeling suffocated can also join us,” he says. Kejriwal’s associates say as AAP grew in numbers, he gave his colleagues space to plan and execute their ideas, which helped the party succeed. “He is a very rational person. If you convince him with logic, he will give you complete freedom to work the way you want. Contrary to the belief that he is an autocrat, the fact is he not just listens but also seeks advice,” says a fellow traveller of his now famous car, a 2005-model blue Wagon R, a donation from a supporter. (The family owns a 2001 Alto.)
Brand Kejriwal The man who may be Chief Minister of Delhi one day has refused the offer of security. “There is no threat, they just want to keep an eye on us,” say his associates. As this man from Hisar in Haryana attracts global attention, there are stories of people from the Bansal subcaste of the Bania community, to which he belongs, changing their surname to Kejriwal. Brand Kejriwal is here to stay. And this even his detractors in the BJP and the Congress now concede, even if grudgingly.
Life of action Kejriwal may be new in politics, but he is no babe in the woods, with a long public standing: GRADUATED from IIT-Kharagpur in 1989 QUIT JOB with Tata Steel to join Indian Revenue Service in 1992 CO-FOUNDED Parivartan, joined RTI movement with Aruna Roy MAGSAYSAY Award for Emergent Leadership in 2006 RESIGNED from IRS as Joint Commissioner in 2006 CO-FOUNDED Kabir and the PCRF FOUNDED India Against Corruption (IAC) with Anna Hazare, Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi and N. Santosh Hegde JOINED Anna Hazare’s first fast at Jantar Mantar in 2011 WENT ON FAST with Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai in 2012 PARTED WAYS with Anna to launch political party with Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Shazia Ilmi, Kumar Vishwas, Gopal Rai and Yogendra Yadav in 2012
"Delhi results are the victory of the people. The margin with which I won against Sheila Dikshit shows the extent of the common man’s anger against the Congress. We have nothing personal against any individual, be it Dikshit, Modi or Rahul
Gandhi."
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IN the run-up to Delhi elections, the BJP and Congress competed in running down AAP. Leaders pooh-poohed the chances of the fledgling party bagging more than four-five seats. While the thought of a new party managing even four-five seats should have shaken them out of their reverie, the Congress was confident of its formula of sops and the BJP believed Modi and anti-Congress wave would do the trick. The BJP was also hit by its decision to field Harshvardhan, who even AAP members admit was a shrewd grassroots level politician they feared. The BJP polling 2 per cent less than the 2008 votes in Delhi also triggered a debate on the efficacy of the Modi factor. Now what, is AAP’s dilemma How the AAP strategy pans out in the days to come is the question. The BJP and Congress have both made the offer of “unconditional and constructive” support to Kejriwal, perhaps to prove that he is ‘running away from responsibility’. If AAP refuses to bite the bullet it could be argued it is not prepared to implement its manifesto, which is ‘un-implementable’. Accepting Congress support could mean political suicide, as the BJP would use this to run down AAP in the general election. But a cornered Kejriwal has responded with a smart move — throwing the ball in the rivals’ court, asking for their stand on each and every point of the AAP manifesto. “There is no unconditional support. It will have to be issue-based,” he says, knowing well that the demand will put the two parties in a spot. It has never happened that a party forming the government may have sought a point-by-point assurance on its manifesto agenda. The rookie has played his first move like a master. Whether the checkmate leads to endgame will be known in the next 10 days.
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A connect with people that gave the sweep THE question why AAP is causing the expense of another election on the exchequer is met with a counter query from Manish Sisodia, Arvind Kejriwal’s close associate: “How much is the annual outlay of Delhi? Rs 40,000 crore. How much is the cost of conducting another election? Around Rs 100 crore. Tell me if it is such a bad bargain to spend another Rs 100 crore to ensure that the Rs 40,000 crore is spent in a proper and honest way?
“Rome was not built in a day. We need time to reach our goal to be able to give an honest government. I am sure it will not be a ‘ghate ka sauda’ for the people of Delhi,” says the journalist-social activist-politician on the charge of AAP ‘running away from the responsibility’. AAP is home to many like Sisodia — educated, urban and middle class — speaking the language of honesty and corruption-free India, armed with facts and logic to back their defence of the party and its ideology. Two rooms in Sisodia’s fourth-floor office in the back lanes of the obscure Pandav Nagar in Patparganj, from where he won, are strewn with mattresses. During the day these serve as conference room, and by night turn into bedrooms for many like Manish Jha, a 25-year-old software engineer who left his job in Wipro to join AAP. “My parents were upset when I left the job. My father met Manish Bhai. Now he is happy. My monthly expenses are around Rs 1,500-2,000, for which I have my savings. Food comes from the community kitchen,” he says. Sitting next to him is Vikas Yogi, an engineer, trying to convince a TV channel why he would not be able to detail a spokesperson of their choice for an evening show. “What I am doing now is more exciting and meaningful. I want to travel to rural areas to tell youngsters to shun the politics of liquor and money,” he says. Kejriwal’s associates say AAP campaign cost around Rs 18 crore. His expense was around Rs 2.3 lakh. The BJP and Congress allegedly gave JJ (jhuggi jopdi) cluster voters Rs 5,000 each, but they still voted for AAP, they claim. Rivals’ disconnect AAP’s arguments on expensive electricity and water and corruption struck the cord with the tired voters. The best brains in rival parties failed to notice the undercurrent that made perfect sense for Delhi voters, cutting across urban middle classes and the JJ clusters. ‘Professional’ politicians failed to decipher the simmering anger against the privileges of ‘lal batti’, vote banks of caste and religion, the common man’s struggle to stay afloat and the tax-payer’s hard-earned money swindled in the name of schemes like MNREGA. For the Congress, in particular, Delhi should hold a lesson. Its decimation proved that the poor may not be appreciative of the food scheme and get them the third consecutive term at the Centre. The Sheila Dikshit government was among the first Congress-ruled states to launch the Sonia-backed scheme. Political analyst Sudhir Panwar says: “AAP may be a half-baked political idea, but the phenomenon is real. Rivals overlooked it as their strategies were not equipped to counter it”. So engrossed were the national parties in the archaic assessment of voter psyche that they dismissed it as a “chillar” party. The symbol of “jhadu” helped attract the section that was once Dalit champion Mayawati’s vote bank. The BSP vote share in Delhi dropped to 8 per cent, as it was in 2004. In 2009, the BSP got 14 per cent, giving Mayawati two seats. Old habits at work AAP’s success has hard lessons for the Congress and BJP — voters can’t be taken for granted. There may be space in politics for a fresh option of corruption-free governance. “We have given the Congress and the BJP many chances. I felt AAP deserved at least one chance,” says Adesh Jain, a corporate lawyer. He takes pride in mentioning on Facebook that he is a founder-member of AAP. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said there were lessons to learn from AAP. However, many office-bearers in the AICC office say Rahul may not even recognise them if they walked past him. Such disconnect among top leaders even with their second-rung leaders is what may have done their parties in. A Congress leader says: “With populist policies driven by activist minds, the 127-year-old party turned into NGO mode, whereas catering to real issues of the grassroots Kejriwal turned an NGO into a political party.” The AAP’s decision to position Gopal Rai at the Anna fast at Ralegaon Siddhi was a bad idea, but the idea of pitching its most vocal member Kumar Vishwas against Rahul has generated positive reaction.
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The clincher — honest, innovative campaign THE Aam Aadmi Pary has scripted a change in electoral culture through its revolutionary campaigns and innovative concepts — mohalla sabhas, hoardings behind autorickshaws, constituency-specific manifestos — for reaching out to the voters in Delhi. Its thrust on ‘participatory democracy’ — akin to Jayaprakash Narayan’s socialist movement — is what struck a chord with people and enabled the party to make an impressive debut.
Realising the enormity of the task and inexperience in politics, the greenhorns stuck to the card of honesty, transparency and accountability, and roped in people from 16 provinces and 300-odd districts to deliver. With limited resources, the party plunged into political waters and executed its poll plans on an anti-corruption and decentralisation pitch, inflated power bills and extensive mass-contact programmes. It connected with people by promoting decentralisation through mohalla sabhas. New kind of politics “Time has come to replace alternative political parties with alternative policies where mohalla sarkars and reservation for women would be the order of the day,” says AAP leader and sociologist Prof Anand Kumar. “True democracy is placing the reigns in the hands of people. Elections alone are not democracy, but decentralising the system ensures participation of locals through mohalla samitis,” says AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. A young brigade of enthusiastic volunteers launched extensive door-to-door programmes and turned to massive online campaigns through group mails and social media. Known for its experiments, the unconventional party also brought in individual manifestoes for constituencies, apart from a principal one, for a localised focus. “When we started cataloguing the issues, we understood the complexity in localities and decided to have separate manifestos,” says Prof Anand, a teacher at JNU. Funding the movement The party decided to contest with ‘public money’ and sought donations from people during campaigns in localities and online. Help poured in from India and abroad, and in over 10 months, it had to ask people not to donate more after it surpassed its target of Rs 20 crore. Out of this, Rs 19 crore was used for election expenses in Delhi. Money from the AAP central account was allocated to the constituency units, which were allowed to keep record of its own donations. After the announcement of poll date, money was transferred into the account of the contesting candidate. Vouching for transparency in its financial dealings, the party relied on online declaration and digital signature to ensure there is no foreign funding and posted the donors’ details on its website. The party declared itself open to public scrutiny and favoured a cap of Rs 14 lakh for a candidate, as fixed by the Election Commission. It made the best use of young talents and stood as a frontrunner to use social media platforms extensively for campaign. It took lessons from US President Barack Obama’s campaign and sought support through Thunderclap, a new network platform. Ankur Shrivastav, who manages the party’s social media activities, says the support of people was phenomenal. Nearly 25-30 per cent of the total funds came through online donations.
Doing it right
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Party focused on participatory democracy. *
Connected with people by promoting decentralisation through mohalla
sabhas. * Extensive door-to-door programmes and online campaigns were undertaken. *
Brought in individual manifestoes for constituencies, apart from a principal one, for localised focus. *
Prepared a catalogue of issues.
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Candidates selected on US pattern Just a year-old, the party that championed the cause of a clean political alternative by promoting honest candidates actually forced the top leadership of the traditional political parties — the Congress and BJP — to introspect their functioning. The AAP stressed on credibility in politics. Giving a call for transparency in politics, the party adopted a stringent process of candidate selection. It involved several stages similar to that of the US primary system of elections in which candidates are selected from or at the local level.
People’s choice
AAP national convener Prof Anand Kumar explains: “The selection process was pretty complicated and difficult and candidates emerged from local contest. We had the membership list of every constituency and out of them we invited nominations. They were then scrutinised by a screening committee. The shortlisted list of five probable candidates was sent back to the constituency where feedback from the public was sought, besides views of AAP volunteers. The one with the largest votes based on the consensus of the party’s political affairs committee was declared the candidate.” April onwards, the party invited applications by May 5 from any Delhi resident backed by the recommendation of 100 people. Among other details, the party had sought information about an aspirant’s criminal history, political background, wealth, knowledge of ‘swaraj’ and participation in social movements. Challenging the established models of electoral culture and rejecting politics of money and muscle power, the AAP had declared that people with criminal records and rebels from other political parties will not be given ticket.
Starting a trend
In fact this was what made the Congress and BJP realign their selection procedures and reassess the winnability factor of their probable candidates. The BJP even changed its chief-ministerial nominee and named Dr Harsh Vardhan, whose clean image could improve the BJP’s tally, as its candidate. Shifting from the days of ‘identity and elitist politics, the AAP has heralded a new era of electoral politics that has trashed common perceptions and inhibitions and led to the involvement of the electorate like never before. Prof Anand Kumar says: “It has been a 40-year-old quest that began in 1973 with JP Narayan giving the call for electoral reforms and reforming the relationship between the government and the people. Institutional empowerment and reforms got replaced with privileged and feudal politics. Masses started getting disconnected.” The AAP has come as an initiative to channelise, in a constructive way, the anger against an arrogant political class which has dismissed the nationwide movement for Jan Lokpal. Encouraging ordinary individuals to enter politics, the party slowly and steadily galloped to conquer its seasoned rivals in Delhi. Prof Yogendra Yadav, psephologist and senior AAP member, says the Delhi results are a moral and political victory for the party.
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Born in Hisar in 1968
