New Delhi: The debutant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) created history by emerging as a force to be reckoned with after the outcome of Delhi state legislative assembly elections.
Never before had a new political party created the kind of ripples that AAP managed to create in Delhi, that too within a year of its formation. The only similar example in the history of Indian politics was the Janata Party, that came to power within four months of its creation in 1977. But the Janata Party was simply a cocktail of anti-Congress forces united under the leadership of socialist leader Jaiprakash Narayan. That the experiment lasted barely three years proved the point that Janata Party was more of a pre-poll coalition.
Unlike the Janata Party, AAP did not have a mentor or any known big names by its sides. Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare, who led mass agitation against corruption, had retracted when his second-in-command Arvind Kejriwal decided to convert the movement into a political party.
Expectedly, Kejriwal became the soul and face of AAP when it came into being on November 26 last year. But he was seen more as someone supremely confident or a successful gambler when he decided to contest any of the East Delhi seats, considered stronghold of AAP, and declared his candidature from New Delhi assembly constituency against three time chief minister Sheila Dikshit, whom he trounced by a huge margin in a three-way contest.
AAP surpassed all speculations and defied pollsters who had predicted minimum of three seats in the 70-member assembly and the maximum of 21 seats. It fell short of the halfway mark by just a few seats, leaving one wonder what could have been the outcome had Anna Hazare remained part of it, or indeed, if it had some more time.
AAP’s phoenix like rise has much to do with Kejriwal and his close team’s foresight and strategy to target first-time voters and those dissatisfied with the existing corruption-ridden system. And the platform was already set, as Hazare undertook most of his anti-graft protests in the form of indefinite hunger strikes in Delhi.
Those protests were attended by a large number of youth and others, wanting an end to corruption. Kejriwal instantly targeted the invincible-looking and popular chief minister Dikshit, accusing her of being a corrupt leader who helped those indulged in rampant siphoning off of public money during the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Its next stage was to identify some key issues.
AAP identified high electricity cost and accused the Dikshit government of being hand-in-glove with private distribution companies in fleecing consumers. Kejriwal defied authorities, took the law into his hand and had all households, where power supply was disconnected over failure of making payments, by adding back to the power grid. He could prove to the public that the Dikshit government was out to help private distributors rather than stand for the people. AAP promised to reduce power bills by half, promised 24x7 water supplies, if voted to power. He has also released separate manifestos for all 70 constituencies.
The party also benefited from by asking the public to nominate people of their choice as AAP candidate. The shortlisted nominees had underwent several selection processes. AAP ensured that none of its nominees had any criminal background or were accused in any corruption charges.
