GARHWAL POST / editorial / 21st October 2013 Alternative politics The CPI (M) leader in Tripura, Samar Acharjee, exposed the truth behind political life in India when he was photographed lying on a bed of currency notes to show how much money he had made. The party may have suspended him now, but it has blown the lid off a government that was considered the ‘most honest’ in India. The ‘system’ is so bad and so deeply entrenched that politicians confident of their ill-gotten wealth and ‘understanding’ of the voters’ mentality had dared to challenge the followers of Anna Hazare to enter politics and ‘discover’ what their campaign for probity and transparency was worth in electoral terms. Arvind Kejriwal picked up the gauntlet and founded the ‘Aam Aadmi Party’. His primary objective was to establish that people could be persuaded by means other than money, caste, muscle and feudal considerations. He has made tremendous headway within a period of 11 months in the considerably large middle-class Delhi environment, which has been ‘sensitised’ to the common man’s issues by traumatic events and Hazare’s movement. In the beginning, it was thought that he would, at best, be able to ‘make a point’. However, by basing his party in direct people’s involvement, he has acquired far greater clout. Of course, making public the results of his party’s opinion poll is a bit of a joke, primarily because it is conditional upon what these are – no party will reveal a poor result – but independent pollsters too have confirmed that AAP will be making a severe dent at the hustings. With her maternly air and soft turn of phrase, Sheila Dixit has won three consecutive turns in office as Chief Minister. For the people of the city-state, she has represented Delhi’s genteel middle class culture, as against the abrasive personalities of BJP aspirants like the late Madan Lal Khurana. To that extent, she is a formidable opponent. However, the CWG scam has dented her image, while the growing unpopularity of the Congress will also count. Earlier, it was thought that AAP would divide the anti-incumbency vote, causing damage to, both, it and the BJP. There have been other popular movements in the past that have actually succeeded in giving unpopular governments a fresh lease of life in exactly this way. However, there is another factor at work. Usually, many of those unhappy with the Congress, overall, have considered it the lesser evil as compared to the BJP for ideological reasons. Now, they have the much sought after third option. If they are convinced that AAP can win enough number of seats to impact on governance, the Congress could be rendered a poor third in the polls. (It was this factor that denied, both, the Congress and BJP a clear majority in the last assembly elections in Uttarakhand.) By releasing its poll results, AAP is hoping to prove that it is not just a ‘vote-katuwa’ party, but a genuine alternative, capable of forming the government. This is why it is presenting itself as the alternative to the BJP, also. The general consensus, anyway, is that it will do well. Which is very good news in many ways. It will emphatically establish that public mobilisation by honest and capable politicians on Gandhian lines can be far more effective than, either, the resort to arms, or the use of traditional money and muscle power. The problem is whether AAP can extend the formula to other states. Kejriwal and his cohorts know Delhi well and will have selected the right candidates in most cases. However, in other states he may find it difficult to get the right mix of honest and popular leaders. That, however, is for another day.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 08:16:33 +0000
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