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Monday, 9 June 2014

Rise and Fall of AAP

December 2013, a completely new party with radical and coherent thoughts defining novel ambitions announced its arrival in the political boulevard with an unexpected and historic show in the Delhi assembly elections. The Aam Aadmi Party which seemed relatively more piquant than the other parties managed to bag 28 assembly seats in its debut assembly elections. The AAP fledgling took its flight, inadvertently, with the help of it’s newly found wings burdened by hopes and expectations of many a lakhs. The main aim was to curb the corruption at the root level. The thing that made AAP stand out from other political parties was that they represented common man’s anger and frustration against the sorry state of present governance and their political stint didn’t intend to garnish monetary and materialistic rewards. The reverence that the Delhiites showed for Arvind Kejriwal was not out of fear or bought using money but it was due to the ideology of AAP being in resonance with the masses. Going out to the masses, understanding their problems, being open and transparent about every single step, all of it seemed to have struck the right chord for AAP. Apart from all this AAP had the audacity to come out with jaw dropping revelations about some political bigwigs and business honchos being involved in illicit deals which only redounded the credibility and authenticity of AAP. People felt themselves connected to a party after a long time. 
With the advent of AAP, there came a change, a change of people’s perspectives, a change in public’s attitude, a change which vouched for clean governance. And this change was for good. Somehow the inspiration from AAP turned into reality for those 49 days. Bribery, crime, forgery, it all started fading away. It was hard to believe yet satisfying seeing a single someone transforming people’s attitude and a party transforming its ideology into reality. AAP did not believe in disparaging other parties and getting involved in pompous politics, or so it seemed at first. Rather it believed in working for the cause from the grass-root level. As the name suggests, AAM AADMI PARTY (Common man’s party), it carefully took strides making sure that the whole public was beside it, including them in the decision making process. It was the common man’s direct involvement; it was the clarity and transparency in decision making that made AAP different. For AAP, it was never about craving for power and being greedy, it was about hearing the atrocities a common man  faced in his/her life and giving these irregularities a voice. All these things ingrained among the masses a sort of connection with the party, it embedded a common man with a will to hope, and it boosted a common man’s morale, his confidence to think about his and his country's betterment.
But, then as it says transformation is a process and as life happens there are ups and downs and one has no control over the intangible yet inexorable time. It can be good and the very next moment it can shatter you to pieces and this came to bite AAP too. Immaturity in politics, novice politically incorrect decisions, swaying away from their basic ideology of representing the masses and myriad number of dharnas, internal party conflict, all these factors led to AAP losing its sheen. Although AK, stepping down from the CM’s post, showed that he and his party believed in politics of honor and ethics and he wasn't power hungry but the people perceived that he was shirking his responsibilities and felt cheated. His ballsy and a bit ambitious decision to contest in the LS election after his resignation as Delhi’s CM demonstrated the lack of political acumen and eventually resulted in a dismal show managing only 4 out of 462 seats AAP contested for. The rhetoric and a cogent orator in Narendra Modi, who was touted to give a strong and undiplomatic government in the centre, proved to be too hot to handle for Kejriwal and gave him a touché moment. The LS snubbing only led to more people and its own party members drifting away from AAP. Amidst the arrows of blasphemy coming from every direction AAP’s member tried boggling away but the obsolete and hackneyed idea of going on irrelevant dharnas, political immaturity, lack of inter party coordination cost them dearly as they fell easy prey to the blustering verbal attacks from  rival political parties. The spell conjured by AAP’s wand which made people revere it seems to be fading away into nothingness. The fresh news of inter-party conflicts only redound the credits of BJP for the assembly elections. Do the people now feel that AAP has turned kaput? Is the LS result a way of showing people’s disdain for AAP now? Are AAP’s agendas now perceived as mere idiosyncrasies by the masses? Uncertain of the party future, Arvind kejriwal is trying his best to regain the confidence of masses as he mooted for a bottom-up overhaul and burnishing of the party. But will the Delhiites condone AAP’s novice and incorrect actions and give them another chance for their redemption and salvation? Are they ready to show the same reverence and faith in a man who failed them once? It will be interesting to see whether AK will be able to pull out his party out of quagmire and fight the stalwart Indian demagogues or the fledgling won’t be able to make it to the sky and protect itself from the eerie predators of this notorious political jungle.

-Sagar Dang (Guest)
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Note : The views expressed here are not meant to hurt the sentiments of any community, group, faction or political party. If they do, please refrain from commenting obscenities below. Thank You! 

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